An Unreal Reality
by Mystic Yoshie
Summary: Two years after Lloyd sent Kratos to Derris Kharlan, he and Yuan are plotting to get him back. When a failed attempt lands him in Palmacosta, Kratos must join the journey to save his son. KOR with Kratos. Complete.
1. In Which Strange Happenings Take Place

**Wow, been a while since I updated freaking **_**anything**_** I hope to change that with this, I haven't died, and I do have a lot of unposted crap floating around.**

**But off of that, here's the first chapter of "An Unreal Reality".**

**-M.Y.**

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Kratos surveyed the land that for over four-thousand years had been his home, and prison. The ancient hero of the Kharlan War, the _Cru de Ohra_, the Angel of Death, one of the four Seraphim, and Kratos Aurion, the father of Lloyd the hero, had condemned himself to his own personal hell for the rest of eternity.

His sins were too numerous to account for, so when given the choice to live in the new world his son had created, he had chosen to return with the soulless army that Mithos had made, to serve them in their quest to bring Martel back from the land of the dead.

But now, Kratos was greatly regretting that decision, the newly saved world, for it had been only two years, was once again in peril, or so Yuan, one of Kratos old friends and another of the ancients of the world, had reported to him.

In fact, that was where Kratos was headed at that moment, to talk to Yuan. Upon finding that the two trees of ever-giving mana, the Derris Tree and the World Tree, were connected, rather like father and son, they had been in contact. It seemed that Yuan had taken the job as guardian of the World tree. He and Martel, or rather the Goddess of the tree, had been monitoring the infant, otherworldly tree carefully as to make sure that if something like this happened they could be proactive about it.

His feet moved swiftly over the many large platforms and walkways of Welgaia, the city of Angels, toward the center of the city. This was where the castles of the Seraphim were located, the place where he, Yuan, and Mithos, the former Lords of Cruxis, had resided. This was also where the giant seed and Martel's body had been. However, what few knew was that the Derris Tree, a small cut-off of the giver of endless Mana, resided.

As Kratos entered the chamber, the magi-tech doors sliding open around him, the enormous alien tree loomed over him. This was not like the other trees that had been planted on the Symphonian planet. It was, like the rest of Derris Kharlan, purple, a rich shade of purple with twisting pink strips of bark and leaves that remained unmoving in the planet's windless climate.

Kratos strode forward and placed his hand against the rough bark of the tree, he let forth a small amount of mana from his body. For a split second blue-grey wings appeared behind him, however, they disappeared as fast as they had shown themselves, disappearing in a flash of bright sparks.

Kratos' eyes closed as the tree's power enveloped him, glistening mist spun around him. When he opened his eyes again it seemed as if he was standing on an island, water rushed around him and he spent a moment enjoying the earthly sound, the soft trickling of water was something the homeland of the elves lacked.

From the water his eyes traveled up to where his friend stood on the mainland, mere feet from his figure. Yuan had changed in the past two years, he seemed less tense, as though he no longer worried about jumping into battle at any second, and he seemed more open, friendly, like when Kratos had first met him, thousands of years ago. His eyes were bright and even his clothes were new, less practical, more comfortable, no armor.

Not that he had really _needed_ armor when he had been working to save the world, but it had made more sense, he had blended with the mortals better. In fact, only one thing had really remained the same about his friend and that was his blue hair. The half-elf had always seen fit to pull it back into a ponytail at the base of his neck, and yet, despite all the trouble he took to keep this long hair out of his way, his bangs still fell irritatingly into his eyes.

This had always aggravated Kratos, though Yuan had noted that this was very hypocritical seeing as Kratos' own hair was also always in his eyes, but at least the _rest _ of his hair was relatively short!

That and his smirk, the man was standing in front of him, customary greeting smirk in place. "Hello Kratos," his voice slick, but Kratos could see something was wrong, "how is everything in _heaven_?"

"…You honestly expect anything has changed? You, however, seem to have something to say."

The calm smirk slid off his face and he seemed almost nervous, "As observant as ever, I see, old friend, yes there has been something on my mind…"

"…" Kratos waited for Yuan to say what it was that was "on his mind". "Well?"

"…" Yuan sighed, "Perhaps you remember when I mentioned the strange weather that has been taking place around the world-."

"I believe you wrote that off as the changing climate after the world had returned to its original form."

"That is what I believed at first, correct, but then Lloyd and I got wind of another thing that could be causing it."

"And that would be…?"

"Do you recall the Summon Spirit Ratatosk, the Lord of the Kharlan Tree?"

"Of course, that was the first pact that Mithos made during our journey."

"Any do you also recall the Centurions, his servants?"

"Vaguely, it has been a long time."

"Yes, well, it seems that his sleep, and the sleep of the Centurions, is causing the disasters."

"…And? Don't you simply awaken them?"

"Ratatosk is gone."

"Impossible!" Kratos' eyes widened, "How? Summon Spirits don't just vanish, and what will happen to the door to Neflheim?"

"That is a good question my friend. Lloyd was looking into it, unfortunately we found it."

"Unfortunately?"

"Do you remember the Vanguard, the supposed "saviors of Sylvarant"?"

"…Yes, do not tell me that they have him."

"That's is in fact the _unfortunate_ part."

Kratos swore, "How?"

"We don't know the details, but we do know that they are planning on using all of the Cores to rebuild the Mana Cannon."

"And I suppose it does not get any more comforting?"

"Depends on if you can find a way to manipulate the situation, Ratatosk's Core itself was stolen by a girl from the Vanguard."

"I do not see how that is a good thing, Yuan."

"It's out of direct harm, and now we _have_ a plan."

"…And that would be…?"

"You."

"Me? And just _how _do you plan on involving myself in this. According to the Kharlan Core System we are almost out of communication range as it is!"

"Yes, well, I've had far too much time on my hands, and I believe I found a way to get you back here."

"Y-Yuan what are you…?"

"Only if you want to of course, Lloyd doesn't know, so he would not be so disappointed if you did not come back..."

Kratos knew Yuan was going to keep at him until he agreed, what was the point of dragging the argument out?

"Well, what will it be?"

"I do not think… What is this idea of yours before I agree?"

"Yes, I knew you would agree, even _you _get board." That irritating smirk was back in place.

"Yuan…" Kratos' voice was dangerous now.

"Yes, yes I know, you want to know the details."

"Just tell me, Yuan. _Now._"

"The plan is thus; I spoke with Origin about this and I believe it will work. You see, I asked him to go back to the moment when you were sent to Derris Kharlan, he will put what is more or less a "timer" on your transport. It is set to deliver you back here in exactly one hour."

"You really have set this up well, haven't you?"

"Just pack what you need, and don't forget my favorite cape, I've forgot to grab it before Derris Kharlan floated away."

"…I'll be sure to keep that in mind. But I'm assuming that there _are_-."

"You mean the risks?" Kratos nodded. "Well… You could simply end up here, or be wiped off the face of reality."

"Wha-?"

"Or you could arrive here with one or more limbs missing, or you could be forgotten by everyone on the face of the planet, or-."

"I'm not so sure about-."

"I'm sure it will go fine."

"Fine… Yuan, you are impossible, how long to I have?"

"One hour."

"Then, with luck I will see you soon."

The communication was cut and Kratos' heart was beating quickly. He may really be able to return to Symphonia. He could help Lloyd. He could see his son… and even those he almost considered to be his friends. Perhaps… perhaps there was a better place for him then here.

Quickly he collected the few things he wanted to bring with him; the few pictures of Anna and Lloyd that he had, his sword and clothing, and whatever else he needed. Yuan's cape was collected and Kratos was prepared to leave. Concerns of what might happen were the farthest thing from his mind, he had his doubts but in all likelihood the plan would work fine, worrying about this would only o to agitate him. That was an unnecessary complication.

He had been waiting for what seemed to be twice his four thousand years before the mana around him began to ripple about. Kratos felt his body begin to dissipate around him. All seemed to be going according to Yuan's plan, Kratos could make out through one eye the still world of Derris Kharlan, through the other the Symphonian planet. Yuan, surrounded by mist, amidst the sparkling waters that had appeared after the destruction of the Tower of Salvation, did not seem to see him yet, however, as he was looking in the opposite direction, waiting.

And then, something went wrong, and Kratos blacked out.

………………

The infant mana-giving tree seemed to glow in the night air, Yuan thought, Mithos and Martel would have been- no _were_- proud of this tree. This was what the four Kharlan Heroes had worked for thousands of years ago, now, so many years later, what they had wanted had finally come true.

However, the world was once again in danger.

Yuan himself had barely left the tree since its planting, however, Lloyd, Kratos' son, had been going back-and-forth, collecting information. The world was once again in discord, the Gods did not seem to be favoring the newly revived world.

The _Regeneration Group_, as the world was now calling the eight "heroes", were worshiped and hated in the new world. They had found a way to explain the worlds without destroying the belief of the Church of Martel.

………………

_When Lloyd and the others had returned from the runes of the Tower of Salvation, they decided to split up; the world was going to be in chaos. People were going to be in horror as earthquakes rocked the world and continents shifted. Lloyd, Colette, Raine, and Genis had split the Sylvaranti cities amongst themselves. Zelos, Sheena, Presea, and Regal returned to a shaken Tethe'alla. The story had been decided beforehand: they would not tell the truth of Mithos and Cruxis. _

"_At the death of the Giant Kharlan Tree, Mithos the Hero, at Martel's will, split the two nations of sylvarant and Tethe'alla into the two worlds. For four thousand years the worlds stayed in this way, vying for the small amount of mana that the Goddess had given her foolish children._

"_Many years later Colette, the Chosen of Regeneration, was chosen by the Goddess Martel to return the world to its original form, by ridding the world of the Desians and using the power of Cruxis._

"_And so, Lloyd the Hero, one of the Chosen Heroes of Martel, was given the power of the angels and saved the world."_

……………….

This was the story of the World Regeneration that was given to the public, those who knew, the Mizuho, Colette's Family, Altessa, and the like, had been asked to keep this information to themselves. Any remaining Desians were not believed or, rather, they were killed on sight, so there was no one to alert the world of its ignorance.

Although this story had been given out, the people were still losing faith in the Church and its Goddess.

The Church had been fast to communicate with its otherworldly counterpart and, soon, the Churches of Sylvarant were totally controlled by the Tethe'allen Churches, Tethe'alla was favored by the Church of Martel and so the Sylvaranti Liberation Front, the Vanguard, had been formed.

Lloyd had reported that at first only the extremists were joining the group, but as the world fell further and further into chaos, the people began to listen to the Vanguard. It had grown, thrived, and began to become very rebellious, the cities of Tethe'alla had suffered raids and rebellions at the hands of the so called "liberation front".

………………

_Where is Kratos?_ Yuan thought, frantic thoughts flashed through his mind, _Dead? Vanished? _With any luck he was simply still on Derris Kharlan, the transport failed, unable to return.

"Yuan! Yuan, Palmacosta is under attack!" It was Lloyd, yelling, crying, screaming for him, and Kratos was pushed from his mind. "The Vanguard is attacking Palmacosta; we have to go, _now!"_

"W-what? Slow down Lloyd, did you say that the Vanguard is attacking Palmacosta?"

"_Yes, _that's why we have to go, _now!"_

"Lloyd, I can't leave the tree, not with revolts going on and the tree in such a vulnerable state!"

"Argg, fine, bye!" and Lloyd dashed away.

Yuan looked back at the tree, mind blank. What had he been thinking about?

It must not have been important.

………………

The next thing that Kratos was aware of was blackness, his eyes were closed, and pain; although this was only a tingling pain, as if he had been slapped, it was more than he had felt for many years. Then he became more aware of his surroundings.

In the distance he heard echoed screams and the crackling of fire, large _fires_.

Kratos forced his eyes open and, reacting to the sight before him, jumped to his feet. He was in Palmacosta, a morphed, flaming Palmacosta. Although he had never been to the seaside city after it had been destroyed, and rebuilt, by the Giant Kharlan Tree, Kratos recognized it instantly. There were only so many cites this big that were _on_ the water.

But what hell had been brought upon it?

He surveyed the scene around him, men in strange masks were laughing as they set fire to a building, and civilians ran passed in fear.

Kratos gathered that these were the men responsible for Palmacosta's destruction. He raced over sliding his sword out of its sheath and slammed it into one man's head, knocking him out cold, the other he forced against the wall of a half destroyed building, his hand to the throat of his victim.

"What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.

"W-who are you?"

"Answer me," he hissed, glaring daggers.

"T-the Church of Martel attacked us! We're only doing what's right!"

"You call destroying a city and murdering innocents the _right thing?"_

"I-." Kratos did not give the man a chance to answer; he slammed his sword into his head and dropped him with his fellow.

He did not know the details of what was going on here, but he doubted it was anything so severe that an entire town had to be destroyed.

Kratos charged around, sword drawn bringing down those who tried to damage the city or its citizens. Not long later, after stopping several men from killing a young family from escaping, did Kratos see something that stopped him in his tracks, Lloyd.

His son, dressed in his usual red with suspenders, was slaying, not the masked men causing the riot, but an innocent family. Kratos stared in horrified shock, what was Lloyd doing here, and what was he _doing?_

"Lloyd! Lloyd, what are you doing!?" His calls fell on deaf ears, "Lloyd Irving!"

Suddenly the man looked up from where he was bent over the corps of the man he had been killing, unfriendly eyes met his own cold, red ones, and Kratos flinched.

"What do you want?" The question was sharp, full of anger. There was something wrong, this wasn't Lloyd, Lloyd was incapable of that type of cold murder, even the tone of voice was something that the boy Kratos had known and trained was not capable of producing.

All the same Kratos stepped closer, "Lloyd, tell me, what is going on here? I will explain more later, just tell me what is going on!"

Confusion, anger, distrust, and finally and smug disgust flashed over his son's face. Uneasiness flowed through Kratos, could this really be Lloyd?

"Palmacosta has undermined the authority of the Church of Martel and the Chosen, the punishment for this crime is death." He smiled as if he knew some brilliant secret, had some final puzzle piece that he was withholding.

"I believe the Church of Martel are the ones whom are undermining the order," stated Kratos, "After all that has happened, I would believe you would be the first to want the destruction of the ideals Mithos put into place, and the last to support them."

For once Kratos saw a natural look slide into place on the nineteen-year-old's face: confusion. As comforting as it was to see that look on his face, it still unnerved him, why did it look like Lloyd didn't understand what he was talking about?

As if on cue, Yuan's words from earlier flashed through his mind, striking like the lightning in Volt's old temple,

"_You could be forgotten by everyone on the face of the planet,"_

"_Everyone," _even Lloyd…

So that was what had happened, for some reason or another _no one could remember him._

This realization must had shown on his face, because Lloyd's smirk was back in place, "Well? What side are you on?"

"…For the time being I believe remaining a neutral party will be to my best benefit." Kratos stated simply.

This did not seem to please his son, Lloyd gritted his teeth and drew his swords, "Wrong answer, old man." And he charged.

Kratos' sword was out and guarding before Lloyd had reached him, with his shield he pushed Lloyd back his son grunted as he hit the ground and the air was force out of his lungs.

"You've fallen out of form," Kratos noted grimly, "I did not teach you this."

"Times change!" he spat back.

"Apparently, although I should know that better than anyone, _Lloyden_," and suddenly Kratos did not feel as if I had the strength or will power to fight his son. "Goodbye, Lloyden, I hope you are better behaved the next time I see you."

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**How discusting is it that I leave the **_**first**_** chapter as a cliff hanger, I will probably have the next chapter up in a week or so… once my beta reads the damn thing.**

**Reveries begged, I promise updates **_**will**_** come if I get them.**

**-M.Y. **


	2. In Which New Friends are Made

**Well these updates are coming along nicely, I am warning you now though, these updates will not continue to come so regularly, I just pre-wrote the first three chapters so I'm giving them to you. That and the way the reviews came in I couldn't help myself but put up a new chapter quickly.**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi owns nothing!!!**

**Thanks sooooo much for your support.**

**-M.Y.**

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Hours later, Kratos left the runes of Palmacosta. Although he was uninjured, disregarding a few scratches, he was winded and tired. The encounter with Lloyd had left him worn and confused, as of now all that Kratos felt like doing was sleep. Luckily for him, not far from Palmacosta was a House of Salvation. It was less than an hour's walk from the destroyed city, and only a few minutes' flight.

The thing that Kratos did not account for was that every refugee from Palmacosta was heading for the same location as he. Large crowds of people had gathered around by the time Kratos landed, not far from the House of Salvation. They were all injured and without a home, now that their city had been destroyed, Kratos would not take the bed of one who was less fortunate.

The sun was beginning to rise in the east, sending a warm glow across the land, perhaps he would see if there was anything that he could help with before leaving. He wandered in to where a priest was giving orders, "Is there anything that I can help with?"

"…Hmm? Oh, are you with the Tethe'alla emergency hospital?"

"No, a traveling mercenary. I saw Palmacosta was under siege, so I entered the city and tried to help as much as possible, then I came here, hoping to get some rest, although I think I could do more good helping."

"Very good, well-." The priest was cut off when a young girl, fifteen or sixteen years at most, approached, looking awkward. "Can I help you Miss?"

"Um… yes, I was wondering if there were any rations that I could have, I just escaped Palmacosta and I need to go to Asgard, as soon as possible."

"No, unfortunately, all supplies are being rationed for the injured."

"Oh, that's alright, I understand…" she looked worried.

"…" sometimes Kratos hated how disgustingly _kind_ he was, "If you can wait until tomorrow, I'll take you to Asgard."

"Really?! That would be wonderful!"

"Well if that's settled than would the both of you be willing to help?"

"Yes, of course! I'm Marta Lualdi by the way."

"Kratos, a pleasure I am sure."

"Then if the two of you would be so kind as to hand out gels, apple to the lighter wounds and lemon to the worst."

"Very well. I can use minor healing spells, would that be of any use to you?"

"Yes, that would be fantastic, anything minor that you think you can heal, please do. If not, send them inside."

Kratos nodded his agreement and he and Marta set off to relieve the two priestesses that were, at present, working there. They nodded, thanking Kratos and Marta graciously for their help. Marta smiled and accepted their thanks, but Kratos simply nodded vaguely, quickly getting to work.

For the next few hours they worked, Kratos handing out basic healing and Martel passing out gels. It was late morning, almost noon, before they were brought food and told that two beds had opened up for them. They ate with Marta chatting the entire time, Kratos almost regretted his offer, the girl never seemed to _stop talking_.

They went into the large room where people were being attended, found their beds, and quickly fell asleep. Even Kratos, who had not slept for some months fell into a light sleep.

………………

It was late afternoon when to two awoke, things had settled down, people returned to Palmacosta, looking to see what was left of their rebuilt city. The weather was cool, but sunny and Kratos decided that he and Marta would set off that afternoon, Marta was ecstatic.

"Thank you so much for taking me to Asgard, I really didn't know what I was going to do if I couldn't get any gels or anything to get me there!"

"…" Kratos nodded, he was exhausted already from her talking.

"Oh, I should probably introduce you two, shouldn't I?" she stopped and Kratos took another step before stopping and turning to see her, apparently talking to the air, "Tenebrae, come out, I want to introduce you to Kratos!"

He was about to ask if she had an imaginary friend when the name she was calling sunk in. Tenebrae. He recalled, four thousand years ago, the Centurion of darkness, Tenebrae. He doubted the darkness incarnate had forgotten him, or would forget him anytime soon. On the other hand, this would be a good test to see if he was recognized.

Although he did not _like_ the thought, it could be used to his advantage. Let her call the creature, one way or another it would not be the end of the world if he was not allowed to travel with the girl. When the Centurion appeared, he was prepared.

"Hello," Tenebrae greeted him, "I am Centurion Tenebrae, charmed."

"Kratos Aurion," he nodded at the ancient spirit, "a pleasure."

"Have we," the Centurion looked at him oddly, "met before?"

"Perhaps, I do seem to recall something to the effect, although I think I would remember better if we had."

"…Yes, you would think."

"Um…" Marta looked between the two of them, "yeah, Tenebrae and I just started traveling together; he's the Centurion of-."

"Darkness, yes. I have heard of them."

"Oh, really?" Tenebrae looked pleased, "One would not expect a traveling mercenary such as yourself to be so adequate."

"…" Kratos grimaced, was it really so unlikely that he would be well read?

"Anyway, how long do you think it will take us to reach Asgard?"

"A week, perhaps two. Are you meeting your parents?"

"…I-No I am traveling on my own."

"May I inquire as to why?" Kratos did not find this overly odd, after all he himself had begun traveling on his own at only eighteen. Granted he hadn't been _really_ alone, Yuan had been with him from the beginning and they had joined with others and eventually Mithos and Martel, but still.

"My mother died in the incident with the Giant Tree and Palmacosta." Kratos flinched, it had not been his fault, per say, he _had_ tried to stop Lloyd and the others but Yuan had gotten in his way. However, despite this, he still felt that it _was_ partially his fault. "And my father… well I…" Marta trailed off.

"…Did you run away from home?"

"Wha? S-sort of…"

"I see." Again, Kratos did not feel that this was an overly strange occurrence, he and Yuan had run away from home, sometimes it was, unfortunately, necessary. "Was there any particular reason that you did so?"

"…Daddy hasn't been acting like himself lately, I was starting to get worried, but when I tried to help, he wouldn't except it. He started doing a lot of bad things so I had to get away."

"I understand, I suppose. Where is he now, do you know?"

"No, Daddy could be anywhere. I was in Palmacosta and I ran away during the attack."

"Will he come after us?"

"He wasn't with me. We should be fine, I suppose."

"Then we shall carry on to Asgard, but I would suggest that we try not to make a spectacle of ourselves."

"Okay."

"This is all very touching, but I think you should have waited to know more about our escort before pouring your soul out to him!" snapped Tenebrae.

Kratos smirked, "I have to agree with your friend here, but do not worry, I will bring no harm to you."

Ironic, he had said something similar on the Journey of Regeneration, only this time he meant it. "I repeat, my name is Kratos Aurion, I am a traveling mercenary. I was in Palmacosta at the time of attack. That is all you really need to concern yourself with."

"Kratos Aurion… Did you know that that was the name of one of Mithos the Hero's companions?"

"Oh, really? How fascinating," Kratos wanted to laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time. The likelihood that he really _had_ been forgotten was getting higher, the fact that he had just been told he was named after himself was insanely humorous, and there was something desperately wrong with Lloyd.

They walked until sundown, mild conversation was taken up between the girl and the Centurion with he himself giving information randomly. Any of his old friends would have been shocked and proud of the fact that he was opening up so much more. That evening they stopped and Kratos began making dinner, he made skewers out of the bit of food they had been given at the House of Salvation. Marta looked over his shoulder, making comment about his skills the entire time.

They ate and then the human girl, angelic man, and Centurion sat around the fire, "Kratos," asked Marta, "Do you have any family?"

"…" Kratos flinched, "I will answer that on the condition that you answer a question of my own."

"Okay, but you first, since I asked first."

"Very well…" Kratos stared unblinkingly into the fire, "I once had a wife and child, however they were taken from me by the Desians, this was many years ago now." Kratos instinctively reached down his tunic for the locket he had once worn, but he blinked, his hand meeting a different charm, a millisecond later he remembered giving it to Lloyd so many months ago now. He had made this mistake so many times on Derris Kharlan.

Instead he pull out a smaller locket, this charm had two pictures in it, one of Anna, her smiling brown eyes and matching hair never ceased to cheer him, and a picture of Lloyd, his full-grown son. Oh how he missed them. He tucked it away before Marta could come over and question as to why his son looked to be only a few years younger than himself. This was the last thing he wanted.

"I'm so sorry," Marta murmured, "I know how it feels to lose someone you love, it hurts, a lot. And most times you just want to rip yourself apart because of it. Nevertheless, sometimes you just have to move on. There isn't anything you can do; you just have to move on and-."

"-And live their lives for them. Yes, that is what a friend of mine said, and I have. At least to the best of my abilities."

"…What was your question?" asked Marta quietly.

"…" Kratos looked away, quite unable to meet her eye when he asked, "Lloyd Irving. I saw him in Palmacosta, but he was not saving anyone, he was murdering. What has happened to him, do you know?"

"Yes, but you haven't heard?"

Kratos shook his head, "I have been… away from society for two years and out of much contact."

"Oh, have you?" hissed Tenebrae, "Prison perhaps?"

Kratos rolled his eyes, "No, not _prison_, Centurion, I have been doing a lot of traveling and have not had much contact but from the few times I have stopped into towns along the way, and that was very rarely to say the least."

"Humph," grumbled Tenebrae, "I'm sure."

"Be _nice_ Tenebrae," scolded Marta, "I'm really sorry, Kratos, Tenebrae had been asleep for a really long time and he just woke up and is kind of _grumpy_. I swear he's like a fussy old woman."

"W-what? I am not!" cried Tenebrae, insulted, "I am a Centurion, we are ageless and I hardly think being suspicious of strange men is _fussy _or _grumpy_, especially with you being in your position."

Kratos rose an eyebrow at Tenebrae's words, "What is this _"your position"_?"

"Oh, um…" It seemed the two were keeping _more_ secrets. "It's kinda' complicated," began Marta, "I'm not really sure-."

"Oh, you've already poured your entire life story out to this man, you may as well let him in on this as well!" Tenebrae seemed to be giving in.

"Okay, if you say so, Tenebrae." Marta took a deep breath, "Have you heard of the Summon Spirit Ratatosk?" Kratos nodded, oh yes, he knew the spirit, however, he was not exactly _liked_ by the spirit of the Giant Kharlan Tree. Not that he blamed him, really, after all it would have greatly surprised him if Ratatosk had still liked him after everything he, Yuan, and Mithos had done.

"Well, have you ever met him?"

"What are you saying?"

"Kratos, meet Ratatosk." Marta lifted the bit of bangs from the right side of her face to show a red gem implanted, somewhat like an exsphere, on her forehead.

Kratos stared, at a loss for words.

"Um… yeah, I sort of took this from the Vanguard, who took it from Tenebrae, they wanted to use it to take down Tethe'alla and… Kratos, are you Ok?"

"Fine," he managed.

"Is there something you wanted to say?" asked Tenebrae.

"There are a few things that I would _like_ to say, however, seeing as there is a child present, they would probably be rather inappropriate." Martel would have killed him, had he said what was on his mind in front of this child.

"Oh, well, anyway, Tenebrae explained to me that the other Centurions, as well as Ratatosk being asleep, are what has been causing the disasters around the world. And the only way to stop them would be to awaken the other Centurion's Cores, as well as Ratatosk."

Kratos thought this over behind his shock, that did seem to make sense, however, the fate of the world resting on the shoulders of this young girl was really not something he was in the mood to risk. "Damn it." Was the most intelligent thing he could think to say.

"Kratos, are- is there something I can get you?"

"Oh, for the love of _Origin!_" He was once again near tears, and he half wanted to laugh at the disgusting, unreal _irony _of the situation. Ratatosk's protectors were asking one of the people that the spirit himself would _love_ to kill, to help them. Whatever higher spirits still watched over him must be laughing wildly.

"W-what are you _talking_ about?!" demanded Marta. Tenebrae on the other hand was laughing.

"Oh, dear, I don't think the Summon Spirits will be too happy with you, sir."

"They already hate me; I doubt there is much more I can do to increase their disgust."

It seemed Tenebrae was warming up to him. Marta on the other hand was beginning to get worried, "Kratos," she said, "I don't really know what's going on, but-."

"I do apologize, it seems that I have had more stress lain on my shoulders in the past twenty-four hours than I can handle. Despite this, I do understand your situation to a point, please," in that split second he made up his mind, it was what Yuan and Lloyd would have asked him to do anyway, "allow me to offer my services. It is the least I can do if it is indeed the world that is in danger."

"Oh?" Tenebrae raised an eyebrow, "And what makes you think that we would be willing to take you on?"

Kratos thought this over for a moment, he could easily tell them who he was, that he was one of the heroes… in a way. Although, with Lloyd being the antagonist it appeared he was, it would probably _not_ be in his best interest. There was Tenebrae, too, to consider; the Centurion would surly recognize his name, but not himself. This would surly cause unnecessary questions, things that should not be too far looked into.

Then what else could he say?

"If the world is indeed in danger, than should it not be the population who are trying to do something?"

A long shot, but perhaps…

"Ya' know Tenebrae, he's kind of right, I think we _should_ take his offer, I mean, he is really strong, and we could always use another fighter."

"_Wha-, _but Lady Marta, we know _nothing_ of this man, for all we know he could be-."

"Oh, shut-up Tenebrae. Kratos, welcome to the group!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**And that's chapter two. Shorter than the last by like, four hundred words but the third chapter's gonna' be longer, don't worry. I hope this answered any questions you had about this "forgetfulness" thing, if not, review and I explain.**

**R&R Danke**

**-M.Y.**


	3. In Which Bonds are Formed

**Okay, here's chapter three because people are **_**harassing **_**me to put it up *cough****mythirlmaidencough* Therefore, here, don't hurt me.**

**Disclaimer: Do you honestly think I **_**own**_** Tales of Symphonia? Idiot.**

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A week into the journey, the angel, the girl, and the Centurion were more than half way up the Palmacosta continent, and were two days yet from Hokonisia Peak. Most of the journey had been uneventful, with the exception of one or two monster attacks.

That evening, they all settled down, the night was dark and the air bitterly cold. The howls of monsters echoed in the night sky. The forested continent held mostly pine, spruce, and ash trees, a strange combination, but nonetheless they looked beautiful with a thin layer of frost covering them. It shined in the moonlight, though only a sliver showed in the starry sky.

Kratos began to make them dinner, he pulled out the stew he had made earlier in the week and began to reheat it. The food sent a warm smell around the clearing they were making into their camp. Marta was setting out bedrolls and blankets and Tenebrae was floating around being useless and commenting on the strangeness of humans.

His ears pulled back, the strange, ghostly blue-black markings on his body seemingly glowing in the darkness, the Centurion seemed to enjoy every chance to mock the new addition to their party.

"If you are not going to make yourself useful, Tenebrae, than make yourself scarce. Talking for your own amusement is a rather self-endangering activity."

"_Well_," huffed Tenebrae, "my _apologies_, but I do not see the _benefit_ of being an antisocial sell-sword!"

"I am hired for my _skills_ not my "wit" and mouth," hissed Kratos.

"There are those of us who have more talents than simply being able to swing a sword!"

"You have _no_ idea the art, skill, and _time_ it takes to develop the sword. Some of us are not born with power."

"…Yes," Tenebrae was suddenly serious, "yes, although you don't seem to have a _lack_ of power."

Kratos froze, he had wondered how long it would take for Tenebrae to bring up his unnatural mana signature. He had hoped, however, that the Centurion would keep it to himself. Marta, who had been waiting on the fringes for a place to jump in and stop their argument, suddenly looked curious; "What do you mean Tenebrae?"

Kratos glanced at Tenebrae, hoping that he would keep his mouth shut.

"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with Lady Marta, although it does bring up a question that has been on my mind for some time now…"

Kratos breathed a breath of relief, Tenebrae went off prattling about something, and he had stopped listening after a moment, so as to distract Marta from himself. He knew that later, after Marta went to bed and he would sit up watching out for danger, or so his excuse went, Tenebrae would demand an explanation; why he could use mana, why his mana was scented with the hint of Aionis. But for now he was safe, but for now he would be left alone to find some lie or excuse…

"I think that's a great idea Tenebrae! What do you think Kratos?"

"Hmm?"

"I see someone's attention was diverted," grumbled Tenebrae.

"My apologies."

"We were _wondering_ if you would become a Knight of Ratatosk," stated Marta simply, "Then you could recruit monsters and everything!"

"Yes," said Tenebrae, "It would make protecting Lady Marta and Lord Ratatosk even easier."

"…" Putting himself willingly into Ratatosk's power would defiantly be suicidal, the Summon Spirit hated him, for good reason of course, but still… "No, I do not think that once Ratatosk is awake he would appreciate having me under his power." In a manner of speaking.

"What do you mean?" demanded Marta, "Kratos, I'm sure Ratatosk would _love_ having someone like you as a Knight! I don't see the problem!"

"Hmm…" Tenebrae was getting suspicious. "Well then, perhaps I can interest you in a partial pact."

"…" Kratos raised an eyebrow, "What exactly does that entitle?"

"You have the power to recruit monsters, but if you break the pact the monsters will leave you. Overall, you will not have the power of _Lord Ratatosk_ assisting you in battle, but you will have the power of the _monsters_."

"… On what grounds will I be forming the pact?"

"Your life, or your mana, whichever works best for you. Mana is the simplest, well, what do you say?"

Kratos could practically see the cogs in the Centurions' head whirling, if Kratos based the pact on his life and then, seeing as this was not an all together unlikely happening, broke the pact, he would die. On the other hand, if he based the pact off his mana Tenebrae would be able to see the Aionis in his blood and would know immediately who he was… a vexing dilemma. And, of course, refusing the pact would bring about suspicion and Tenebrae may tell the child about the Aionis …

"…Perhaps I could make the pact on a vow, as you would with other Summon Spirits. It is only a partial Pact, therefore I am not obtaining the power of Ratatosk, as such I do not see a problem with the arrangement."

This obviously did not please Tenebrae, "Sir, I think a more traditional pact would be preferred by Lord Ratatosk."

"Then you do not need the pact that badly."

"…" Tenebrae growled with frustration. "Very well then, but you will have to vow to each separate core in order to obtain the power of the monsters. Speak your vow first to Lord Ratatosk and then to myself."

"…" Kratos thought for a moment, what would be a good vow that would not entitle him to servitude under the spirit? Than an idea hit him… He turned to Marta and Ratatosk's Core, "Lord Ratatosk, I ask that thou form a pact with me and grant myself your power so that I can take on the assistance of your monster servants." The core glowed brightly, but Kratos sensed, through mana, that Tenebrae was somehow _helping_ the core, but ignoring this fact…

"He accepts, state the vow," hissed Tenebrae.

"I vow that your power will be used only to better the world, only under the sever, and unlikely, circumstance that your power is used for something other than the betterment of the world will I ever deem it necessary to break the pact."

The core pulsed with power. "He accepts."

And thus the pact was made.

…………………………..

After they had finished the stew, Marta and Kratos crouched around the fire, watching the flames dance, the night had grown colder as it progressed and Marta was beginning to shiver.

"Would you like my blankets?" asked Kratos softly, though no one was sleeping around them he felt the need to whisper, "It's fine, I don't need them."

She looked ready to object, but then she nodded, she was too cold; their breath could be seen steaming in the firelight.

"Thank-you Kratos…" she took the blankets and snuggled deeper into them, "But won't you be cold?"

"I'm fine." He said the words flatly.

"You know, I worry about you. You don't eat enough, you're never cold… what's wrong with you?"

"…" Kratos rolled his eyes, "Thank you for being concerned about me, however, it is unnecessary. I can take care of myself."

"I… guess." Marta looked away, awkwardly.

Kratos stared into the fire, his mind had been on Lloyd the past few days, his inquiry of his son had been forgotten in favor of Marta's Ratatosk tale and had never been brought up again so he still had no idea…

"Marta, you never did answer my question about Lloyd."

"Lloyd? Oh, that question, well, see…" she didn't meet his eye, "I heard, back when I was in the Vanguard, that Lloyd had teamed up with the Church of Martel, apparently he was saying that anyone who opposed them would be put to death. Palmacosta began to rebel against the Church and so Lloyd…"

"…I see." This _was not_ Lloyd. It could _not_ possibly be him. Lloyd would never have gone along with the Church of Martel; he had hated the idea that they worshiped a Goddess that was based on a dead woman. "It's an insult to everything that she stood for!" he had once said, "How could Mithos _do_ that?" He had been so opposed to it… "That does not sound like something Lloyd would do."

"Well he did!" spat Marta, "And he's getting away with destroying more cities and killing more innocent people!"

"I saw him in Palmacosta, I agree he was not _helping_ the people-."

"He was slaughtering them!"

"I knew Lloyd," Kratos stated simply, "It is almost impossible to believe that he would do something like that-."

"Does- …does that mean you don't believe me?!"

"I did not say that. I knew Lloyd two years ago, I _know_ just how greatly people can change in such a small portion of time; however it seems unlikely that Lloyd would truly join forces with the Church. It is far more that blasphemous to his ideals."

"What do you mean, blasphemous?"

"I mean that Lloyd hated the Church," Kratos was glaring into the fire now, "He would never help, or associate with them, unless there was truly no other path… but I cannot see that being true in this case, correct?"

"I don't understand what you are saying."

"I am saying that you should examine every angle and opinion before you make assumptions."

"Look, that's just the public opinion," snapped Marta, "I'm just telling you what I heard!"

"… My apologies, it seems that I am rather defensive of him."

"Yeah, well, whatever."  
..................

The continent that which Palmacosta was located consisted of mostly forests and rivers, and in the season of Celsius, or _winter_ to the Church, the snow fell in sheets, covering the pine forests in a beautiful frosted blanket, and freezing the rivers. The party had had a weeklong journey traveling up the continent and, after staying in the wilderness for a week; the small inn on Hokonisia was heaven.

The inn itself was tiny, more of a hut with beds than anything, and was built into the side of the hill, a winding path lead from the main pass to the inn. When Kratos and Marta checked into it, they were handed the keys to their rooms and told that there was going to be a service held in the small chapel-church that was a room built off the inn.

"Will you be going to the service?" asked Marta once they had both settled in and Kratos had come to check on her.

"I am not a religious man in the sense of the Church of Martel."

"Oh, and I suppose learning the truth of the attack on Palmacosta made that even truer…"

"…" Kratos almost smirked, "No, the Church of Martel is based off of good morals; however, their Goddess is of questionable origins." At this the smirk broke forth. "What of yourself, will you be attending?"

"No, I don't want to attract too much attention; we'll only be staying a night so I'll just try to get as much rest as possible."

"That is a good idea; I'll restock our supplies so that we can be off early tomorrow."

"Alright, see you in the morning Kratos, sleep well."

Kratos turned away so that she could not see his frown, "And yourself."

………………

Kratos wandered aimlessly around the hillside of Hokonisa Peak. The wandering was pointless; he almost considered visiting Koton, a "friend" of sorts that he had had the "honor" of meeting on the last journey.

"Sir, can I interest you in some gells?"

"Stay off my yard, brat!"

The world around him seemed to move in slow motion. The hustle and bustle that was the mortals' everyday life, it still baffled him. Sometimes it was hard to believe that he had once been one of them, so, so many years ago.

"…Find Marta and get Ratatosk's core." Kratos froze, the words startling him, what about Marta?

"The priest at the house of Salvation said that she and a man, he is still unknown, were heading toward Asgard, search the hillside and inn. We'll find them." The man who spoke was a tall redhead who had donned a full black outfit, which was rather tacky and impractical in Kratos' opinion. Finally, he had a small pair of spectacles. The straight-forward way he spoke and the cold manner in which he stated things grated Kratos' nerves, he did not trust him in the slightest.

Marta, he had to get her out of there. If it had not been for the propose of being discreet, he would have rushed back to the inn and gotten her out of there, however, the redheaded speaker was still starring around as if he could look through the walls and find the girl.

Kratos turned quietly to the man who was selling supplies. "I would like five apple gells and seven orange gells if you would be so kind."

"Of course, sir." While the man dug through his supplies Kratos sensed someone coming up behind him. A shiver, however unnoticeable it was, shot up his spine. Slowly he turned around…

"Can I help you?" his voice was soft and deadly.

"Perhaps… Have you seen a young girl with a red jewel on her forehead? She is rather hard to miss."

"Yes, one would tend to remember someone like that. However, unfortunately, I have not seen her."

"…I see." Kratos was ready to murder this man… Half-elf, he was a half-elf. Fascinating.

"Well, if there is nothing else I can help you with…" Kratos' tone implied that he did not fully appreciate this man's presence.

"You seem to be in a hurry to leave the pass…" he stated suddenly.

"I have to be in Luin in less than a week. I am visiting my late wife's family." Sort of.

"Ahh, well I wish you a safe journey. We may meet again."

"…" Kratos chose to say nothing but simply nod. He hoped that he would never have the "pleasure" of seeing him again. He took his gells and his leave. When he returned to the inn, it was only to find some of the men his assailant had been speaking to minutes before searching the place. He was instantly glad that he had been the one to check them in and that when Marta had entered when very few people were in the common room. They had been _very_ lucky.

He slipped down the long hallway towards Marta's room, he softly knocked on the door and called in a hushed voice, "Marta, may I come in?"

"Wha-? Sure, Kratos!"

"Quiet," he snapped as he slipped in, quickly shutting the door behind him, "You were wrong, you _are_ being followed!"

"What!?"

"Do you recognize a rather tall man with red hair and glasses?"

"Oh no, it's Richter!"

………………

Kratos had grabbed his unpacked things from his room in seconds, whereas Marta seemed to have managed to drag out all of her things and strew them around her room.

"Oh, where is it!?" she cried, fretting over several of her packs. Tenebrae rolled his eyes.

"Have you checked under the bed, Lady Marta?"

"…" Kratos watched in exasperation, Colette and Raine had been far more cut out for this type of travel, and they had _always_ felt the need to more in whenever they had stayed at an inn for more than an evening. Kratos himself had no trust for the innkeepers let alone the other guests and kept most of his things on him the majority of the time. "Marta, if you would, we need to go. Now."

"I'm sorry, Kratos, but I _can't,_ I need to find my stuff!"

"…" The black-clad man took a deep breath; he'd spent far too little time without human company and had grown less patient of human error. He dropped to his knees and began to search the floor for anything the girl may have over looked. His numb hands found a small, bulky item and pulled it out, a sock. Wordlessly he held it up to her. She took it with a quiet "Thanks Kratos". He nodded once, pondering over the way she could manage to strew things so far when they had only been at the inn for two hours.

Nearly an hour after his encounter with Richter, Kratos was able to herd girl and centurion, thank Martel centurions were above "material possessions", out of the inn via window. Kratos had left the necessary payment in his room along with a letter stating that he and Marta had had to rush out. They sprinted through the nearly complete night sky. Under normal circumstances Kratos would have liked to stare up at the diamond-studded velvet that was the sky, however, he was convinced to get their little party away from Hokonisia Peak as quickly as possible.

As they approached the pass, Kratos hissed an explicit and threw out an arm to stop Marta from walking around the corner and into a Vanguard blockade. They seemed convinced to cut them off, Vanguard solders carefully checked each person, and their luggage, and anywhere else one could hide a girl.

"Dammit," hissed Kratos, "How the _hell_ are we going to get you out of here?"

"I could fly over the mountain on Tenebrae-."

"Out of the question, it _is_ a mountain, after all. The air at the top would become far too thin and you would pass out."

"Well that what would _you_ suggest, Mr. Aurion? Dress me up in a costume and send me through?"

"…" Kratos opened his mouth to snap at the girl, to tell her to be quiet and let him think, but stopped, it was not that bad of an idea after all… "Tenebrae, I assume, you being a Centurion, that you can change forms…?"

"Of course, why, I have been called the_ Centurion of a Thousand Faces_."

"Good, if the Gods are in a good mood this may even work without me having to spill any blood. Marta, do you have any other clothes you could change into?"

"Wha? Um…" she blushed, "No, not really… When I ran away from Daddy, I was only able to pack so much, and I never have enough money for new clothes… not with food and weapons and stuff."

"Certainly an eloquent man such as yourself," mocked Tenebrae, "Has something that Lady Marta could use."

"…" The only thing that Kratos had other than his mercenary things was the Cruxis uniform that Lloyd had dubbed so many years ago "Judgment". Not only would that be far too large for the slip of a girl, but he would have to explain where he had gotten it. _That is idiotic! _ He scolded himself, some guardian of the Core he was turning out to be.

"I have something, however, it may be slightly large on you."

"Well… I don't see the point of Tenebrae being able to change shape!" Marta seemed to want nothing more than to prove that Kratos' plan was just as bad as hers.

Kratos rolled his eyes at her dislike of the way he planned on getting them out of this set of circumstances. "If he changed into some form of hat, or a wig of sorts, we may be able to slip past unnoticed." 

"…Oh."

"You want me to turn myself into a _wig?_ May I ask just _how_ that is in _any way_ dignified?"

"We sometimes have to do things that put ourselves in difficult positions in order to work for a common goal." Martel had taught him that long ago and Lloyd and reminded him repeatedly on their first journey, not to mention the hundreds of times Anna had forced him into awkward positions to reinforce the lesson, and he was steadfastly convinced that he would not forget this time.

"I… oh alright, fine!" the Centurion had not expected his oh so "eloquent" companion to have such a statement to retaliate him with.

"Y-yeah, sorry Kratos, I guess I did get a little bratty there for a second."

"Think nothing of it," But the tone of his voice was cold and detached, Marta shivered.

"So, um, what did you think I could wear?"

………………

**Right, chapter three. I just got four betaed, and will post it in like… a week? Probably less.**

**R&R or I **_**won't.**_

**-M.Y.**


	4. In Which There are Several Pacts Made

**Okay, sorry sorry sorry for the double screwed up update, I **_**had**_** and author's note and when I uploaded it after school, it wasn't there and I didn't relize it until too late so here's the actual chapter AN.**

**I got a review from a rather confused reader saying that they did not understand the Pact-making scene, I must admit this came as no surprise to me as I did not find that that was one of my better moments so here's the basics: Kratos only made a pact to allow himself to use monsters. I would bet that any other KOR would have the added power of Ratatosk along with the monster abilities, Kratos only gets the monsters. Furthermore, I would bet that Ratatosk once had legions (OK maybe ten or fifteen) or KOR at his command so there can be more than one. **

**I think that covers everything…**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi owns nothing.**

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By the time Marta was in the new outfit and Tenebrae somehow morphed into a long black wig, Kratos felt ultimately irritated, how did _one_ girl and a Centurion manage to badger him so far into exasperation. The sun had been nearly set when they walked into the Vanguard blockade, now it was fully night. The blockade snaked through twists and turns made by blocks and solders. Marta held the sleeves of white outfit rolled to the proper length, but the Cruxis uniform was far from ideal. The awkward couple, plus wig-shaped Centurion of Darkness, entered the line attempting to get through at the late hour.

"Hand over all yer' packs and the like!" One man ordered, Kratos had had enough foresight to hide Marta's old clothing in a secret part of his packs, hopefully it wasn't found. After a minute of rummaging around, the solder handed the bag back with a barked "Move along."

They passed through two more stations where the solders squinted at them through bird-like beak masks, demanding names, where they were going, ect. Always the same answer was given, "Philip and Melina Trist, siblings, going to see Philip's late wife's family in Luin. They were waved through.

At last they were very nearly through, Kratos was unwilling to trust that he had actually gotten them through, it seemed too good to be true. The next checkpoint came up and the masked man squinted at Marta, then at Kratos. There was a sinking feeling in Kratos' gut, they would be recognized, he just knew it.

"Does the name Marta Lualdi sound familiar to ya'?" He demanded to Marta.

"No!" it came out as a squeak. A very unconvincing squeak.

"Hmm. Wait here." He stomped off.

"Let's run!" whispered Marta, "Well he's gone!"

"No, we wait; if it comes down to it I'll get us out of here."

"But-."

"No, Marta."

Their whispered conversation was interrupted by the return of the Vanguard member in question and an irritated looking Richter. "See, sir, this is the one, doesn' she look just like Lady Marta?"

"…" Richter scrutinized Marta coldly before turning to Kratos, "You claim that this young woman is your sister?"

"That is correct." Kratos was pleased to find that when they stood face-to-face to Richter he was a little more than an inch taller.

Richter turned his cold, calculating gaze back to Marta, who was practically shaking. "… I don't see it," he said simply, "You're a fool, she looks _nothing_ like the girl we're looking for. If you recall, Marta has brown hair. Unless I much mistaken, this young lady's hair is black."

This was one of those rare moments in Kratos' life where he wanted to laugh. And he could honestly say that he hadn't laughed for sixteen years.

"Allow me," stated Richter, "to take you through the rest of the way."

"That would be much appreciated," came Kratos' cold reply. There was a moment where Kratos and Richter's eyes met, and for a fleeting moment they glared at each other, neither prepared to move. Wine red to mossy green, Kratos watched emotions flit behind the other's eyes, he was not so hard to read after all. And he knew. About Marta, and their "master" plan. And this worried Kratos greatly. After a second had passed, the contact was broken, with mutual understanding that this was _not_ the end. No winner, no loser.

Richter lead the way through the rest of the barricade, waving off any attempt to check Kratos and Marta. He was leading them into a trap, that much as obvious, but Kratos was more worried as to why Richter hadn't had every Vanguard solder at the pass on top of them. Even Kratos wouldn't be able to fight off that many solders if they all attacked a once.

He stayed close to Marta, his angelic ears open for the sound of… anything.

"Now," Richter turned, "hand over Ratatosk's core!"

Marta gasped, "How did you find out?"

"It really wasn't that difficult to see through your ridicules costume," Richter snorted.

"What an abrupt change in conversation," Tenebrae ghosted off Marta's head; her hair momentarily brushed out of her eyes and showed the core, glowing brightly on her forehead. "You really must learn the _art_ of conversation, Richter."

"And you need learn to keep your mouth _shut_ Tenebonehead!" Another being materialized behind Richter. Almost human in body shape, her skin was a thin membrane, seemingly stretched over a frame that was too large for it. The part that Kratos had originally taken for hair seemed to be more of a tail that was used for propulsion through the air. Different parts of her skin were covered in decorative tattoo-like shapes that spiraled across her chest and hips. Her fingers were long, sharp claws, and her eyes were black and seemed to lack a center point. Aqua, the Centurion of water, if Kratos remember correctly.

"Aqua? So I see you are still traveling with _him_."

Kratos had no idea what Tenebrae meant, but now was certainly _not _the time to ask. "If I may ask," Kratos snapped, "is right now the best time for a conversation?"

"I agree with…"

"Kratos. Kratos Aurion." He rolled his eyes, not in the mood for this. It was late, and he was running out of patients very quickly.

"Very well, hand over Ratatosk's core and I may let you live, Aurion."

"I find it odd that _you_ are threatening _me_," Kratos said coldly.

"Get used to it _human!"_ Aqua said triumphantly.

"Aqua, you are as uncreative as ever."

"The time for idol talk is over!" cried Richter and he charged at Marta. Kratos stepped in front of her and easily blocked Richter's flying blades. He fought with a combination Kratos had never encountered before, a long sword and some sort of round blade- a sickle if he remembered correctly.

Richter held the block with his sickle and brought his long sword around and Kratos was forced to employ some of his angelic strength to throw Richter back. The man, however, landed on his feet and instantly charged Kratos. This time trying to take Kratos at a new angle, his sword and sickle raised high in the air. Even _Lloyd_ wasn't stupid enough to leave himself totally unguarded like that…

At the last moment Kratos leapt out of the way, and although Richter did not even _stumble_ on his landing he seemed to be getting fed up with Kratos' constant dodging. He swung both of his blades at Kratos and he barely dodged.

This was not a particularly _difficult_ battle for Kratos; he was simply getting a feel for the strange man's fighting style. He himself had never favored more than one blade, and a sickle had always seemed slightly pointless to him…

Richter was flipped some feet away once again and he stood there, this time waiting for Kratos to make the first move. The latter happily obliged him, charging Richter, all senses open for interference from the Centurion of water. As he reached Richter, he pulled back, missing Richter's swing by a hair and spun around, a large slice appeared in Richter's side. The man's eyes widened and he slipped onto one knee, his sword dug into the frozen ground as he leaned on it.

"Master Richter!" cried Aqua, swimming through the air to where the man was collapsed. "You should watch your back _human!"_

"Thank you for that kind warning, however, I think I can take care of myself." Kratos walked back to where Tenebrae was standing protectively in front of Marta.

"Mr. Aurion, I take back my earlier statement," said Tenebrae softly, "Your swords skills are unmatched."

"…" Kratos nodded and said nothing.

"Yeah, thanks Kratos, I don't know what we would've done without you!"

"…Marta, I think it is more important that we get going." He grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

……………….

Asgard, it had been decided, would be far too dangerous to stop in, no doubt that would be the first place the Vanguard would look for them, they would carry on to Luin. The City of Rebirth was only a two or three day walk in the new world, it seemed to Kratos that he vaguely recalled a continent like this back in the Kharlan war…

Kratos, Marta, and Tenebrae had traveled only a day, and Marta and the Centurion had been talking and plotting all the way. It was noon when Marta complained that she was hungry and sat down where she was; unable to move a step further.

"Marta, it is foolish to leave ourselves out in the open when we are being _pursued,"_ hissed Kratos.

"We'll need to be seen if you want to find monsters." Tenebrae was smirking.

"Excuse me?" So this was what they had been planning.

"Today, I think we should take the opportunity to teach you to recruit monsters, that is, after all, what your pact was made for."

"…" In all honesty, Kratos had forgotten about the pact; too much had happened since it had been made.

"Now, wait here, until you are attacked, once you are attacked, defeat the monster, and cast the pact magic, I assume you know how to cast your mana as such, and with luck the monster will join us."

"You want me to just-."

"Just _do _it Kratos," snapped Marta, "having monster'll make you stronger! _And_ you can help the other Centurions regain their power!"

"I-." Kratos was pushed out into the middle of the forested area they were in, and left there, as Marta dashed out of the way. It was not long before a monster, a mandragora, attacked him most likely trying to find food in the freezing weather.

Kratos effortlessly defeated the monster, then from the bushes Tenebrae shouted "Focus all your mana on a certain element!"

"You could have mentioned that earlier!"

"Just do it!" This was getting exasperating once again.

Kratos did as told; closing his eyes and letting Gnome's power course through him, he opened his moments later to find an enormous… circle? It seemed almost like the designs cast when he manipulated mana, except instead of surrounding him, the constantly moving mana surrounded the monster, he stood on the outskirts of it, near the large symbol that represented light. There were eight of these symbols-one for each element-that created the perimeter of the circle; he stood closest to the light based one, this was because most likely because light was the angle's element.

The mandragora just stood there, unmoving, suddenly it raced forward, Kratos pulled his sword, expecting to be attacked, but the monster wrapped it's small vine-like arms around Kratos' leg. The monster was _hugging_ him.

From behind the trees, Marta and Tenebrae watched.

"Ohh, that's so cute!"

"Hehe… oh, Lady Marta, this promises to be a most _interesting_ journey," chortled Tenebrae, "It's says its name is _Sophie_, great pact-maker Kratos!"

………………

It was from then on that Kratos was constantly pestered by Tenebrae to make pacts with _every_ monster they came across. So that by the time another day had passed, Kratos had a full team of Sophie, an imp named Nero, a wolf named Tut, and a Polwigle called Eon. He, himself didn't feel any special attachment to any of the monster but Sophie, who seemed to enjoy spending her time attached to his leg.

Although he was, once again, getting angry with Marta, she was constantly cooing over their new "pets". She loved Eon and always carried him around with her, giggling and petting it. Tenebrae mocked him with sarcastic praise whenever he made a successful pact, "Marvelous, simply marvelous!" and "Spectacular show!" were some of his favorites.

That evening the seven of them sat down and began to set up camp.

"So, Kratos," said Marta from over where she and Eon were setting up bedrolls, "how long do you think it'll take to get to Luin?"

"I would imagine just another day's walk," he replied, gently guiding Sophie away from the fire.

"Make sure you make enough food for all of the monsters," said Tenebrae, Kratos who had received this lecture the night before had made enough for everyone to have seconds.

"Ohh, rice balls, yummy, right Eon?" Marta twittered. Eon made a squeaking sound and bounced around a little in a way that made Kratos think the polwigle did _not_ think rice balls particularly "yummy". Tut seemed to agree with him and Nero did not seem to have an opinion, the imp had never had much of a personality, its big black eyes never showed _any_ emotion, Kratos did not mind Nero as much as some of the others.

With all of the monsters around though, it made him miss Noishe, he had not seen his old friend for over two years, and he had never journeyed without him.

Tut was always the first into battle and the last out, ripping the enemies in half before finding them thoroughly dead. Sophie on the other hand was never far behind Kratos, always casting spells or acting as back up to him, it was almost funny, she was like a toddler clinging to her mother.

As of yet, Kratos could not understand their "language" but Tenebrae had promised that after he had made more pacts Kratos would be able to understand all of the monsters. This Kratos doubted, however, it would be somewhat interesting to see what Sophie and the others were thinking…

Dinner was completed and Kratos handed the food out to the group, at this rate they would need to stop in Luin simply to restock on supplies, their party had grown so large Kratos was sure he would have to splurge on food, especially with the different appetites and taste pallets everyone was developing.

Sophie was hungry that evening, eating firsts, seconds, and even part of Kratos' own meal, and finally falling asleep on Kratos' lap she was so full. (A.N. If someone could draw a picture of this and send me a link, it would be much appreciated!)

The evening wore on, Marta retreated from the cold into her bed, dragging Eon with her and Kratos slipped Sophie into his bed. Nero floated around the perimeter, just beyond the ring of fire light, and Tut sat next to him like a watchdog. Tenebrae had left once they had started to eat and Kratos had not questioned the Centurion, what was the point if he was just going to get snapped at?

Around midnight, it seemed that Tut was getting cold, so Kratos stoked the fire back to a roaring size and settled closer to it, it was not until much later in the morning that Tut, who had been practically asleep, woke with a jolt and leaped up, growling into the night, Nero, too, seemed focused on something in the shadows.

Kratos turned his eyes in the direction the two monsters were looking, by this time, Marta and Sophie had both awoken as well, the mandragora raced forward, clinging to Kratos' leg, Kratos' hand was on the hilt of his sword, ready to pull it out at a second's notice.

Out of the gloom walked a figure, although it was dark, the person-or at least Kratos _assumed_ it was a person-walked confidently, and out in the open. There was no way that it would be a bandit, they would have attempted to take the small group by surprise, though this could be a distraction, but Kratos could hear no other soft footsteps in the frost-bitten grass…

A soft burst of wind sent the fire tumbling around, shedding light into the stranger's red boots, dreadfully _familiar,_ red boots. Out of the shadows walked Lloyd, practically unchanged from the last time Kratos had seen him in Palmacosta, and even further back near the Tower of Salvation when Lloyd had returned him to Derris Kharlan…

There were, however, three large differences from the Lloyd he had once known; first was the fact that he carried neither of the Material Blades that Dirk and himself had given him. The second that Lloyd's eyes had hardened, the red-brown color that they had once been had hardened into flat orbs, it was much harder to tell what he was thinking now. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Lloyd, Kratos' son, the hero who had saved the world and defeated Mithos, had the mana signature of an angel, a very powerful angel.

"L-Lloyd?" Kratos had meant the statement to inspire the same type of fear that Kratos had once held as a Cruxis Seraph, but the word came out as a horrified question. Not a demand, a begged question.

"Do I know you?" The question was curt, like Kratos, himself had once been.

"I- perhaps, I recall meeting you in Palmacosta." The statement had slipped out, what else was Kratos supposed to say, "I'm your _father_ you fool,"? Yes, he could see _that _going over very well.

"…Palmacosta…" Lloyd looked away, "Why do you people _always bring that up?!"_

"You do not know who I am." Despair coursed through Kratos, so he really did not recognize him, he knew that all along Kratos had been harboring a secret hope that Lloyd would know him if he saw him again. But now it was far too obvious for him to tell himself anything other than the truth. He truly had been forgotten.

"Lloyd Irving," hissed Marta, standing up from her bedroll, with Eon bouncing around her feet, "What do you want?"

"Apparently a person cannot accidentally wander onto another person's campsite, Ratatosk girl," grumbled Lloyd.

"H-how did you know-?"

"Please, you're kind of hard to miss, and it seems you got some new help."

"Humph."

"…" Lloyd looked more closely at Kratos, "Why do I think I've seen you before?"

"…" There were so many things that Kratos wished he could say, only half of them allowed him to keep any form of dignity though. "You _have."_

"What are you talking about Kratos?" Marta cut into the conversation.

"_Kratos?"_ Lloyd glared, with a glare that Kratos vaguely recognized as his _own._

"My, my, what do we have here?" Tenebrae had returned, and was watching closely. "If it isn't Lloyd Irving, I have to say, you're just as terrifying as they say."

"Shut up, Centurion!" Lloyd and Kratos shouted, crossed their arms and glared.

"Oh my," the Centurion seemed almost cowed, "this is… strange to say the least."

Kratos instantly knew what Tenebrae was talking about, he and Lloyd shared many similar, if not the same, characteristics, obviously the Centurion had noticed.

"What's your issue?" snapped Lloyd.

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**Whew… Well **_**that**_** was hectic, sorry about the mix up. **

**R&R**

**-M.Y.**


	5. In Which Kratos Becomes a Halfelf

**Yoshi is sooooo happy that she got this chapter done, it's the last one before I go into Emil POV for a while, so enjoy it. **

**Oh and this chapter is officially dedicated to my Beta, Rouge, for what, I forget.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Gaspeth! Betcha' didn't see that one coming!**

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Kratos had been alive for a very long time. This being a fact, there were not very many things that surprised him. But the one person that never ceased to amaze him was his son, therefore, if you had told him six months ago he was going to join up with the brigade whose goal it was to return Ratatosk to full power, he would not have believed you.

If, however, you had told him he was going to be fighting against his son once again, he would have strung you up by your earlobes.

At this point in life, Kratos would have bet that if he were _anyone_ else he would have keeled over from a heart attack. The things that the fates had put him through were unfair at best and hellish at worst.

Nevertheless, this, _this_ was just too much. Lloyd, and this was the real Lloyd, there was no doubt about it, was not _acting_ innocent. He was blowing them off in a way that almost assured Kratos that something was _wrong_. Call it father's intuition.

"Your lot is certainly a strange bunch." Lloyd was speaking again, he'd dropped the most Kratos-like pose that he had been in and rested his hands on his swords, "I've seen the two of you before, but, like I said, I don't think we've met."

"…" Kratos was ready to choke Lloyd, why was he being so, so… cocky? He sighed, "Lloyd, you should know me."

"Looks like you'll have to jog my memory a little," from the sound of his son's voice, Kratos himself was not the only one who was getting fed up with this.

"Fine then, if you insist, my name is Kratos Aurion, a mercenary."

Lloyd did not move, he stared at Kratos; sizing him up. His eyes suddenly hardened, "You're not Kratos, you are _not_ my dad."

The blow had been struck.

Kratos was unsure as to how the tears that sprang to his eyes had made it through the Cruxis Crystal's affects, but he did not let them fall. Lloyd was still glaring. Hate in those eyes that were so much like his own, and yet… not. Lloyd could not, would not, recognize him.

Then again, would he recognize _himself_ standing here, with a monster clinging to his leg, hand on the hilt of some nameless sword? He doubted it. This was just as Yuan had predicted, no one could remember him, he wondered, somewhere in the back of him mind, which, if any, of the affects that Yuan had described had taken place. Was it something to do with the fact that Origin had had to travel back in time in order to stop Kratos from leaving to Derris Kharlan, or was it something else…?

"Lloyd… I never claimed to be your father."

"Shut up, how many Kratos Aurions can there be in the world? Do you think I'm stupid?"

It must have been the distressed state-of-mind he was in, but several answers came to him. None of which he used. "Hardly," he glared.

"Humph." Lloyd was, once again, acting _just like him_ and it was insanely unnerving.

"Um… if you don't mind, would you let Lady Marta and I in on this little "Family Feud"?"

"_Excuse me?_ This is in no way a _family feud,_ just a misunderstanding. Or rather it had better be."

"Look, it's probably just that Kratos has the same name as your dad, I really think you're overreacting to a coincidence, Irving," grumbled Marta.

"I don't think I have patience for this right now, if you'd excuse me." Lloyd began to walk away, Kratos has a sinking feeling that the next time they met the situation would not be so friendly.

"Besides, how could you get your dad mixed up with _Kratos_ anyway? He looks way too young to be a teenager's dad, he only looks like he's thirty or something and-."

Lloyd wheeled around and the same moment Kratos slammed his hand over Marta's mouth, from the look in Lloyd's eyes he would have to be protecting her again.

"_Never_ speak about my father like that again, do you understand me Ratatosk Girl? Another _word_ about my family and you, your spirit, and "Kratos" over there all meet a very painful end."

And the only response that Kratos could come up with in retaliation was "respect your parents, Lloyd" and he highly doubted that Lloyd had the patience to not kill them. The teen spun on his heel and stormed from their little clearing.

_Dammit, Lloyd, what have you gotten yourself into? Please be careful my son…_

………………

When Kratos had traveled with Colette, Raine, Genis, and Lloyd, they had gone as quickly as possible; eager to save the world, send the young Chosen to her death, but in this group things seemed more relaxed. They did not rush from town to town but meandered their way up and down continents, searching every one for the other six Centurion Cores.

The morning after Lloyd had appeared had been silent, Kratos had reheated the food from the night before and they had all eaten with a hurried sense of wanting to get out of there as fast as they could. Even Tenebrae, the ever-conversational Centurion of Darkness, seemed reigned.

Sophie and Eon were picked up and carried, Tut sent to scout ahead, and Nero floating around vaguely as always, keeping an eye out for danger. The small group even was capable of keeping the serious air about them until lunch, when Kratos bent over a bit of meat, chopping it into another stew. Food was finally running low and Kratos was relieved that, according to Tenebrae, Tut had seen Luin some ten miles ahead. They would be staying at an inn that night.

"I wonder why Lloyd came to our camp last night…" murmured Marta when she could no longer stand the silence.

"I have no idea."

"Oh really? I highly doubt that Kratos."

"…" Although Kratos could honestly say that he had no idea why Lloyd had decided to confront them _that_ night, Tenebrae still knew he knew something, and he was in no mood or position to defy him. "I cannot answer your questions."

"Tenebrae, leave Kratos alone! I don't know what Lloyd was going on about his father for last night, but we shouldn't blame Kratos for that!"

"Well, Kratos, _do_ you know why he was so defiant of your name?"

"…" Kratos sighed, "I know that Lloyd was raised outside of Iselia by a dwarf because his mother died when he was very small and his father was never found."

"I believe you said that you had a son and wife lost to you many years ago!" cried Tenebrae.

"I think you've officially gone senile, Tenebrae, if you haven't noticed Kratos is way too young to be Lloyd's dad!"

"I-," Kratos opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Tenebrae.

"Lady Marta, he is obviously older than he appears!"

"Tenebrae, stop being so suspicious and grouchy."

"I am most certainly not _grouchy,_ Lady Marta!" said the Spirit, insulted, "There are many adjectives one could use to describe myself, but _grouchy_ is not one of them!"

"Really? Because that's the way you're acting!"

"I disagree!"

Their bickering went on and on; Kratos' head was spinning with the childish argument, he was not sure if it had simply been an accident or if Marta had purposely drawn Tenebrae's attention away from him. Either way he was grateful. He was able to drown their argument out and, with a little help from Sophie, finished the food. He passed a plate to Marta and she quieted as the warm stew filled her mouth.

The day was cool and anything warm was appreciated amongst those who could feel it, the monsters were cuddling closer than ever to their masters, with, of course, the acceptation of Nero who was seemingly unaffected by the cold.

Everything seemed to be back to normal when Tenebrae, ever the irritating creature, returned to the subject; "Mr. Aurion, you never did answer my question, _are_ you older than you appear?"

"Certainly you of all people, Tenebrae, would understand that one does not appreciate being questioned about one's age." But the quip only got him a rather reproachful glare. Kratos looked away, they were all getting far too suspicious, the lot of them, and it almost seemed that he would have to tell them soon enough. "I…I am Lloyd's father…"

The statement hung in the frozen air, it sounded strange, now that it was out of his mouth. It was, Kratos realized, the first time he had ever _admitted_ it to anyone, straight from his mouth, all assumptions aside, without anyone who knew pressing him…

"Kratos… what do you mean, you are…?"

"I-I knew it!" but even Tenebrae seemed shocked, his thrill in his voice hallow… empty.

"Lloyd… was my lost son, and his mother, my wife, died and he was lost to me for fourteen years." No need to tell them the whole story, overload them… "It took me all that time, but I finally found him, then, when I did… he was not happy with me for some time, unfortunately, and I don't blame him, but he had finally forgiven me for my… my _abandoning_ him…" The words had become dry and yet he could not stop them, "I left him to carry on his own life, one that I did not intrude upon and destroy, but I think he hated me even more for leaving him. But, now that I have returned, it is to be unrecognized." He trailed off, his eyes glazed in frustration, how was he going to tell them that- that he had gone to Derris Kharlan, that that was the reason that no one could recall him…?

"How?! How could that be true?!" Marta was shouting, "Kratos, that _impossible_ you can't be his _father_!"

"Lady Marta please calm down," murmured Tenebrae, "Would you please leave Kratos and I for a moment, I would like to discuss something with him in private."

"W-what?! Tenebrae, I-."

"Lady Marta, I will explain everything, but for now let us be."

The girl walked away in a dark rage, "Don't go too far, the Vanguard could be anywhere!" called Tenebrae after her, her only reaction was to hiss back at him.

"What do you want to know?" asked Kratos when Marta was out of earshot.

"Are you the Kratos Aurion of Asgard I knew so many years ago?"

"…Yes."

"Why did I not, do I not, recognize you?"

Kratos sighed and broke into the story of how Lloyd had saved the world, including the pact with Origin and finding a way to wield the Eternal Sword, excluding Mithos' death and the naming of the tree, and went on the explain how he had been sent to Derris Kharlan and Yuan's plan to bring him back to help save the world. And finally up until he had joined with the Centurion himself and Marta.

"I see," whispered the Centurion of Darkness, "I believe I have been slightly too harsh on you, however, I would prefer that Lady Marta not know about the truth of Cruxis and the world."

"I agree, I have seen the truth rip people from their sanity, and in one so young it would be a painful change of beliefs."

"Agreed, but what to tell her, she is a bright girl and will not take a hallow answer."

The two archaic beings stood staring off into space, trying to come up with an excuse, until Kratos felt a small vine-y hand on his leg, he glance down at Sophie who was looking up at him with huge black eyes. He knelt next to her, "What is it?"

"-iea." Kratos thought he heard a sound, almost like a word, coming from the small mandragora nonetheless, "…Idea…I have… idea."

Kratos looked at Tenebrae who looked the closest to thrilled Kratos had ever seen him, "Why, my dear Seraph, I do believe you are understanding your monster!"

"You mean I can… understand their speech?"

"Why, yes, it will only work on the monsters you have a pact with but it is a great leap forward all the same."

"I have idea; you tell Marta that you is elf! They is living longer, right?"

"Unfortunately that would make Lloyd a half-elf, Sophie, and he is not."

"Oh… sorry."

Kratos tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile; it was like dealing with Lloyd when he was a baby all over again, "But thank you very much for the idea."

Sophie all but beamed.

"Hey, hey, listen! Marta's angry, Eon thinks youes should hurry!" cried Tut from a little ways off.

"Oh, goody," grumbled Nero, who, it turned out, was actually a _female, _"We have to put up with little miss spoiled-brat. What does the Toad know anyway?"

Suddenly Kratos had a feeling that he was soon going to be wishing that he _could not_ hear them.

"Heh, Kratos, enjoying yourself?" smirked Tenebrae.

"…" Would he ever get a break? "We still have to come up with an excuse…"

"Just tell her youes an angel of Cruxis come down to help her!" snapped Tut, "She believe that, right?"

"I doubt it."

"Well, if you're supposed to be human that maybe you could say that you were just very young when you did _it."_ Nero smirked.

"_It?_ What is _it?"_ asked Sophie.

"Don't worry about it." Apparently Sophie was much younger than the other monsters.

"I think," cut in Tenebrae, "that it would be best to tell her that you are indeed a half-elf and that that was what you were trying to keep a secret, it would also explain your ability to manipulate mana. She is not the biggest fan of half-elves as a general rule, but I don't think it would be too large a problem for her to get over that."

"Like my idea!" cried Sophie.

"Yes, that is what gave me the idea, little one."

"Very well then, that is what we will do."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**I LOVE writing those monsters! They're like OC's but **_**not,**_** you know? Sophie, Nero, Tut, and Eon are going to have a lot of fun, I just don't know if I'm going to be able to replace any of them with new monsters… CURSE YOU NAMCO!!!!! Why'd they have to have only four monsters to a team???**

**Anyway, Emil is next, please try to get through my character building, Kratos will reappear in two chapters, I promise. In the mean time, perhaps you would like to give me your opinion on which your favorite OC monster is, leave the name in your review and note which you think you could get rid of. Eon will come, but for the time being you just need to know that he is rather… outspoken.**

**They won't be leaving just yet but for reference it could be nice to know.**

**R&R**

**-M.Y.**


	6. In Which Emil Appears

**First and foremost, I would like to say what a freaking **_**difficult**_** feat it was to write this chapter! The bullies (whose names eternally escape me) **_**freaking finish each other's sentences!**_** And the art of conversation totally alludes Richter. AND EMIL IS A F***ING PANSY! **

**Pardon that, I've been hyper allllllll day, and my head was about to explode, I needed to vent. BADLY.**

**And on a totally unrelated note, I hate pajama day.**__

**Disclaimer: If, upon the unlikely occasion, I somehow bought Tales of Symphonia Emil, Richter, Marta, and the irritating, pointless, anti-cannon bully twiny-like-peoples would all meet a slow, very painful, death at the tip of my GRAPEFUITE SPOON! **

**AKA, Yoshi no own.**

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For Emil Castagnier it had been another long night, in fact it was just one of many that the teen had experienced in the past few weeks, having a life-changing, traumatic experience does that to you. Ever since he had moved in with his Aunt Flora and Uncle Alba, life had been what one could only describe as hell.

When the Church of Martel had attacked Palmacosta his parents had been killed leaving the seventeen-year-old as the only Castagnier. He had been sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Luin.

He was out of direct danger, and in but a year's time he would be eighteen and old enough to leave and start a new life, but that did not stop the nightmares. Consistently every night since the Blood Purge he had been plagued by reoccurring nightmares; Lloyd striking down his parents, making him watch, then turning to him, smirking, saying "you're next, little child, hope you _enjoy hell!"_ Then he would laugh as he slowly watched Emil die.

Tonight's had been particularly vivid, Emil could almost _feel_ the blood draining from his body. He had awoken, sweating, early that morning. Any _normal_ teenager would have gone running to his Aunt and Uncle, but normal was something Emil had lost long ago. His only remaining family despised him. Flora, upon seeing him had claimed that is was impossible that _he_ could be _her_ relation.

Therefore, he sat there in bed with tears streaming down his eyes and silent sobs racking his body. It was only three in the morning, Luin slept on, undaunted by the horrors only one blond boy saw.

It was a full moon, and light streamed into the small bedroom given to him upon his arrival, and Emil glanced in the mirror on the way to the window. Glistening, emerald eyes stared back, still wet with his tears. His usually pale complexion now red from crying and his nightshirt-pants combo, (Which was an old pair of his uncles), were far too big for Emil's slim, almost feminine form.

Emil turned to the window; the world was bathed in a silvery glow from the moon and the cobblestone streets. The cozy shops looked picturesque. If Emil had not know what waited for him come dawn, he would have said it was the perfect place to live. However, coming with the first light, the hatred and suspicions of the population would, too, ascend back into Emil's little world.

Looking out over Luin, was when he first heard it; a long, low howl. It echoed across the landscape, an almost mournful sound, it seemed almost… familiar to Emil, like he'd heard it before… A feeling akin to déjà-vu crashed through Emil, the call was supposed to be a sign, a trigger for something… A hundred ideas rushed through his head, only when they became silly and just plain _stupid_ did he realize that he had in fact probably just _imagined_ the sound, someone else would have heard it, gotten the men of the town together and destroyed the monster that _dare _come near the town.

Emil felt his eyes once again growing heavy, he had been away for nearly an hour now and the fright from his dream had dissipated, leaving only the now familiar ach of loss for his parents. He returned to his bed, and fell almost instantly asleep.

………………

When Emil next opened his eyes, it was because the howl had cut into his dream, shaking him awake. Now that he heard it during the light of the day, he was almost sure that it was a monster's howl. He turned to a small chest of doors, and pulled out a grey and blue ensemble, and shuffled awkwardly into the main room where his aunt was cleaning.

"G-good morning Aunt Flora," he stuttered.

"Miserable little brat," spat his aunt, "don't just _stand_ there, make yourself useful and help me clean!"

"I-but… okay." He should have said he was hungry, he should have said he'd just woken up and would help her in a moment, he _should_ have asked where his uncle was, but he did not, only turned and grabbed the broom propped against the wall and swept behind Flora, the bristles making a soft sound against the wooden floorboards.

It was the afternoon before his aunt was finished, and, after having a light lunch, Emil was released outside. He had learned from his aunt the Alba had been called away by the City Militia as monsters had been appearing in the lakebed since dawn… Emil had a nagging feeling that it had _something_ to do with that howl.

Luin was a quiet little town, and, up until Emil had arrived, it had had a booming economy. After it had been destroyed by the Desians during the World Regeneration, Lloyd and his companions had helped to rebuild it; a statue had even been put up in Lloyd's name. It was a huge eyesore to Emil.

How could they look up to a murderer, even if he had saved the world?

Emil wandered the cobblestone streets, careful to avoid eye contact with anyone lest he be shouted at once again. He wandered aimlessly until he heard the howl again, and this time he was not alone; the citizens around jumped horribly, all exchanging glances before looking at him. Their eyes were hostile, furious, as if he had made the howl, or summoned the monsters…

Emil trained his eyes back to the street and continued on his walk, he reached the edge of town, cursing the monster that kept howling, _why does it feel like you're trying to _call_ me?_ The questions echoed around in his head, it hurt to think that he was the one calling the monsters, just last week someone had been killed! Did anyone really think that _he_ would do that?

Yes. Yes, the people of Luin mistrusted him, simply for the fact that he hated Lloyd, they were sure the Church of Martel would show up any day and take him away. "Vanguard-loving brat!" that's what they called him, maybe it was true, he did not disagree with what they were doing, helping the Sylvaranti, he just did not like all of the killing.

The howl erupted through his thoughts again, scattering them. As he listened, he became almost sure that it was coming from the Fountain Plaza… He would see what was going on, why the monster wanted him…

But when he reached the Plaza all he found was the usual day's assortment of people paying their daily respect to "Lloyd the Great". Emil looked up at the statue; the cold stone eyes glared back, so much like his dream. He shuttered and turned away, unable to look at it.

"Emil!"

"Hey, anybody home?" Two of the local boys, the usual bullies that push Emil around instead of avoiding him like the other children did, were looming over him. "Emil, Emil?" sang one.

"Have you paid respects to Lloyd the Great yet?" cried the other.

"Oh, Emil, come with us and say "hello"," they chorused at the same time. They annoyed him to the bitter end.

They dragged him, one holding each arm, to the statue and dumped him on his knees in front of it.

"B-but I a-already d-did!"

"Liar!" cried one.

"Lies!" screamed the other.

"We know you didn't, we saw you!" they said together once again.

"Bu-no." He could not believe he had just said that. "Lloyd killed my parents, why should I thank him for that?!"

The boys blinked, obviously shocked at the thought of Emil, wimpy little Emil, yelling, talking back to them.

"Ohh, Emil, you're in trouble now!"

"You're gonna' regret that, kid!"

"N-no, wait, I-!" Emil took a step back, and stumbled as he met a solid object, awkwardly falling on his behind. He looked up to find that the object he had fallen against was, in fact, a man. He was tall and dark, with long reddish hair.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed at the boys, holding his hand down to help Emil up. "Get lost!"

"Who the hell are you?" they cried in unison.

"I said go!" The bullies bolted. He turned once again, seeming to size Emil up, but instead his eyes widened and he gasped, "You, you're-!"

"I-I, um… yes?" Emil had never met someone as truly… commanding as the man that had just helped him.

"Never mind, you know, you should really stand up for yourself."

Well _that _was an abrupt change in conversation.

But Emil had only enough time to register the words before he walked off toward the rest of town.

_I should have thanked him,_ Emil yelled at himself, _no wonder you don't have any friends, you chicken! You should find him; tell him thank-you and apologies for being so rude!_

The man, however, was already nowhere to be found, Emil searched through Luin, wandering the streets and bridges that were the main walkways. As he searched, he pondered over what the man had said, "_You know, you should really stand up for yourself_." Maybe it was true… but it seemed impossible to Emil that he would ever be able to look the people in the eye.

It took him some time before him found him, in the center of town; he seemed to be examining the statue of Raine, one of Lloyd's companions. Emil approached him, and, suddenly, realized that he had no idea how to go about doing this! There were no rehearsed lines in the real world, and he could not just say it outright…

"What do you want?" While Emil had been standing there daydreaming, the other had noticed him.

_Bad idea, very bad idea!_

"If you've got nothing to say, than I've got something to ask you."

"Y-yes?"

"They said that your name is Emil. Well Emil, have you seen a girl with a red jewel on her forehead, or a man in purple with auburn hair?" Both very vague descriptions, but Emil could honestly say that he had seen neither, and he said so.

"Why are you so jumpy?" the man demanded, "Do you expect to be attacked in the middle of town?"

"I- um, I m-mean…"

"Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality."

Well _that_ makes no sense whatsoever.

"They're words a human with a few screws loose said long ago."

"Um… Okay."

"When you refused to pay allegiance to Lloyd back there, didn't you feel courage welling up inside of you?"

This guy really knew how to talk. (A.N. NOT!!!!!!!!)

"Those who would grovel and beg, or run away at the first sight of another's anger are dogs, or even worse. Are you a dog, or are you really a man?"

"I… um…"

"Just try to do your best to be a man Emil." Once again, Richter wandered away.

_Wow, that guy was _really_ great, "Are you a man, or are you a dog?" I should try to be more like him!_

Then, as if on cue the howl ripped through the cool winter air, this time it seemed to come from the Lakebed.

"I can't go down there without permission; Aunt Flora will get mad at me! …Am I a dog or am I a man? Who r-really cares what she does, if I want to go, t-then I should be able to!"

This time, when Emil set off, it was with a distinct air of a man on a mission. He walked as confidently as he could toward the eastern entrance. (A.N. I _think_ it's east.) When he arrived he found his Uncle hurriedly explaining something to the guardsman.

"-Dead, yeah, I've never seen anything like it! They're all enormous and bloodthirsty too!"

"U-Uncle Alba, w-what is it?" _Be more confident Emil!_

"Whatdaya' doing' here you little brat?"

"N-nothing?"

"Get back to the house and don't make yourself a problem for your aunt!"

"A-alright Uncle Alba."

"Anyway, you go tell the Mayor, I'll go find the rest of the City Watch." With that the guardsman and Emil's Uncle dispersed, leaving the entrance unguarded.

_Now's your chance Emil!_

And in that split-second Emil decided, he slipped out of town, no one noticed, no one cared.

………………

The path down to the Sonoa Lakebed was well worn but still managed to be steep and rocky when it wanted to be. Lake Sonoa had dried up some weeks ago, with his arrival some had said, and monsters had infiltrated the cave that had been discovered deep under the water. No one had successfully searched the caves and made it out alive.

He reached where the shore of the lake would once have been; ships that had once been moored in the little cove were in wrecks all around, heaps of rotted wood and bits of sails. Emil wandered the open area between wrecks, carefully making his way over the dried and frozen lake mud. Where was the monster that had howled-?"

From out of one of the wrecks that sill slightly held its shape, stepped a large bear, the thing was enormous, just as his uncle had said, and it seemed to want nothing more than blood.

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**Dammit, now I have to carry this over into chapter six!**

**Sorry guys, looks like Krattie isn't going to meet Emil until chapter six. I'll start work on that… later, for the time being it's like 6:59AM And Yoshi's got school in fifteen minutes.**

**R&R**

**-M.Y.**


	7. In Which Emil Enters A Cave

**SNOWDAY!!!! **

**Because I'm feeling so wonderfully kind, here's chapter seven a day early.**

**I can really say that I have fun writing this first part of the chapter, I hope some of you get my humor, please don't hate (or flame?) me for what I'm about to do…**

**Disclaimer: …I'm running out of creative ways to put this… um… I DON'T OWN TALES OF SYMPHONIA!!! There, that works.**

**Oh, and, for any of you who have yet to FINISH the game: spoilers… Lots and lots of freaking HUGE spoilers.**

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… And Emil died, slowly mauled by the monstrous bear.

"M-mom… I'll be with you soon." There was a bright flash of light and Ratatosk's core lay where once the boy's body had been. An otherworldly red light came from the small red orb; the ancient symbols of Ratatosk caught the sunlight, showing delicate lettering that formed a language that no one could comprehend any longer.

The bear roared in shock as its dinner was lost, only to this tiny red _ball._ Nothing editable, disgusting. It's beady eyes searched the clearing for something, anything, that could be eaten. He caught a faint hint of human on the air, but that could just as easily have been left over from the vanishing boy.

A sound from behind him; the bear swung around; there was indeed a man there. Tall and wearing black, brandishing a pair of strange double blades; dinner.

The creature clumsily ran forward; how Ratatosk could have lost to such a creature was beyond Richter… even if Ratatosk had no idea he _was_ Ratatosk.

Pitiful.

The great beast was down in an instant; it's large hairy carcass bleeding on the ground of the Lake bed. The man turned his attention to the little orb glittering on the sandy floor.

"Ratatosk, for all that you have done to me, and Aster, and all of the people that you would have killed had I not done this, burn it Hell!"

The long sword that Richter held flew toward the Core; with a snap the core burst, it's two halves disintegrating and a scream that shook the whole world erupted from the small, red Ratatosk's Core.

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**Sorry, I had to do that, I was feeling cruel this morning… **

**MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…**

**Okay, here's the **_**real**_** chapter seven… you should have seen your faces…**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own squat.**

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The bear was a large, lumbering creature, its body was scared with the marks of many a battle won, and had bloody murder in its eyes, which were red with rage. It opened its enormous maw, and roared; its breath rancid with old meat. Emil pulled out an old sword that he had been given upon his arrival, it was not uncommon for any boy over thirteen to carry a sword with them at all times, however, he was totally untrained.

He held the blade to the bear's face, but this only served to anger the creature further. The short sword was batted away, landing uselessly a few yards away. The mad creature bore down on him, poised to serve the killing strike.

"N-no, I don't want to die!"

The bear swung its killing paw down.

"Look out!" a new voice cried out. Emil, who had fallen with his useless sword, looked up to find the bear doubled over in apparent pain, and a girl crouched not far from him, a strange spinner-like weapon clutched in one hand, she had her back to him. She turned to look at him over her shoulder, brown hair framed her pretty face, and sky-blue eyes smiled at him.

"Are you OK? Pick up your sword! This isn't done yet! Are you gonna' run away or fight?! You're a man, speak up!" She had a naturally high voice, but the way she spoke was very commanding. "Come on!" She spun back around and effortlessly slid into a standing battle stance. Emil hurried over the uneven ground to get his sword. "You take the front lines, I'll back you up!"

And he was back in the battle, he heard the girl chanting as he raced towards the bear, it tried to once again swat Emil away, but this time he was better prepared and clumsily blocked the swing. He was not strong enough to push the bear back so he lashed a kick out, momentarily distracting it enough to get a hit in. The bear screamed in agony, and threw itself at him in pure fury.

Emil cried out and jumped away from the creature's snapping jaws. It stumbled over the rocky lakebed, and he saw his only chance. With the girl still chanting what he presumed to be a healing spell behind him, Emil charged recklessly toward the monster. His blade swung through the air and hit furry flesh; he had hit the thing in the shoulder.

He ripped the blade out and struck out repeatedly until, at last, the monster gave a final bellow and collapsed in a large muddy-brown heap.

"Nice one." The girl was smiling at him as she walked over the dead beast, "Hmm, I think one would've been too hostile to do anything with… Hey, it's you!"

"I-I…um, I- What?"

"You don't… you don't remember me, do you? I could be wrong, but you look just like him!"

"I don't understand."

"Never mind. It's dangerous around here you should head back to town," she smiled at him, "but before you go, have you seen a tall man with red hair? We're traveling together and seem to have gotten separated."

"I-if you can't find him, shouldn't you come back to town too?"

"No, no," she shook her head, "I'm fine, but if you don't _have_ to be here, I wouldn't be… But, if things get dangerous, will you save me again?" Her eyes turned all starry, she blushed, and began to rock cutely back and forth. "Well, see you."

"W-wait a minute!"

"Yes, what is it? I'm in a hurry."

"I-I just wanted to thank you for saving me, my names Emil, what's yours?"

"I'm Marta. Is that it?"

"Just, thanks…" Emil looked away.

"No, thank you, but I really should get going." As she walked away, a breeze blew at her bangs, and underneath her hair, sitting on her forehead, was a red jewel.

_That must be the girl that that strange man was talking about! Maybe, he was the guy she was looking for, that must be why he's searching for her too!_

_.................._

Emil hurried back to town, intent upon finding Richter. _If I were looking for someone, where would I ask…? The Mayor! He'd be able to help!_ The Mayor was one of the few people in Luin that was actually kind to Emil.

_I wonder why Marta thought she knew me, I'm sure I would have remembered a pretty girl like that!_ He blushed at the memory of her, _but I wonder why she's traveling with that man. I-it wouldn't be that they're _together_ could it?_ Unlikely, he thought, the man he'd met had been way too old for her… right?

He slipped through the shop below the Mayor's house, careful to avoid peoples' eyes from old habits. He knocked on the door leading up to his home, and was allowed in.

"Emil?"

"Oh, Emil, what are you doing here?"

"I-um, I found that girl you were looking for…"

"Where?" the man raced forward and clutched Emil's shoulders and shook him, "Where did you see her?"

"R-Richter, don't shake the boy!" cried the Mayor, looking shocked at Richter's rudeness, "Emil, you know Richter?"

"I-I was down by the lakebed and she helped me fight a monster!"

Richter stopped shaking him. "Thank you for helping me Emil, Mayor, I'd like to take him with me."

"What, but Richter, he _is_ just a boy…"

"If he's seen Marta-."

"I-I'll go with him!" cried Emil.

"Alright… Emil, try not to get hurt."

The two new "friends" traveled quietly through town, Emil was far to flustered and shy to make conversation and Richter seemed to all but enjoy the silence. Emil as pondering over everything that had happened today, Richter, Marta, it all seemed to happen so fast. He began to fall behind, distracted in his thoughts…

"Emil, don't fall behind!" Richter's harsh voice cut through his ponderings.

"S-sorry!" he darted forward.

"Don't walk in_ front_ of me either!"

"W-what? Oh, I'm sorry!"

"Walk here." Richter put his hands back on Emil's shoulder and moved him back a few paces so that they walked side-by-side

"I'm sorry." Emil hung his head; apparently he couldn't even walk right…

He was sure to keep up with Richter's pace as they made their way back to the Sinoa Lakebed, but his head was spinning, the entire trip there was a blur to him. However, when they arrived at the cave his mind snapped back to reality. There was the city watch, along with Uncle Alba, and they all seemed to be standing guard over Lake Sinoa Cave. The sound of monsters could be heard echoing up from the opening, and, although Emil kept his ears open, he could not hear the howl that had haunted him all day.

When the city watch saw them they all stopped talking and turned to glare in Emil's direction. His uncle was the first to speak, "What do you want?" He addressed Richter as though Emil was not there.

"The Mayor gave us permission to enter the cave, let us though."

"I'll let you in, but he," Alba nodded at Emil, "comes back to town with me."

"The Mayor said to take him, but if he doesn't want to come, I won't make him." Richter sauntered over to the cave and entered.

"Come on you little Demonic Brat, I'm taking you home!" His uncle took him by the arm and tried to drag him back across the lakebed.

"N-no!"

"What did you say?!"

"I said no! I'm not going to let you boss me around anymore!" Emil tugged his arm out of Alba's grasp. "I'm not a dog, I'm a man!" Emil followed Richter into the cave; he was waiting just down the great stone steps.

"S-sorry to keep you waiting," he muttered.

"It's fine, Emil you shouldn't let your uncle boss you around like that."

"I know, but… but Uncle Alba is scary! What if he hits me?"

"Then you take it like a man."

"…"

"Come on, you can fight, right?"

"I…think… I fought a monster today, but I had help."

"Then it looks like I'll be giving you lessons. Honestly, do they teach you _anything?"_

"N-not fighting!" _Besides, I was always too scared to learn._ Not that he could tell Richter that.

"Fine, watch closely…"

They battled their way through the caves, Emil training on the few monsters that attacked them, if anything got to be too much, Richter would dash in and save him.

Nothing of interest happened until Emil, again in a daze, almost walked into a monster.

"Emil, look out!" Richter dashed in front of Emil, shoving him back just before the monster was able to snap at him, it's large fangs only snapping at air. "You have to be more careful! If a monster attacks while you are unprepared it will have the advantage, and then no amount of training will assure your safety, you fool!"

"I'm sorry…" Emil could not look the elder man in the eye.

"And don't apologize so much!"

"W-what?"

"Humph, it is only that I consider emotions to lose their meaning when put into words."

"Is that why you don't talk much?"

"…" Richter blinked; it appeared that he had assumed Emil was just dense, "I suppose you could say that… If you apologize so often, your apologies cease to have meaning. Goddess, I have never had to explain myself so… bluntly for someone."

"I'm sor- oh, I mean… yeah."

Richter rolled his eyes, "We should keep moving."

The ruins of Lake Sinoa Cave were fantastic, a hundred twisting passages leading under the land decorated with angelic symbols and ancient writing.

"I wonder why there is angelic writing on the walls down here…" muttered Emil.

"I'm not positive," replied Richter, "but I would wager to bet that these tunnels lead under the Tower of Mana. The Tower used to be a very important sight for the Church of Martel, these caves are most likely ancient ruins from when the Tower was built, that was thousands of years ago, back during the Kharlan War."

"Can you read the writing?"

"I suppose I could try…" Richter paused at an enormous mural; it was a picture of the Seraphim and the Goddess Martel. Each angel was positioned around the Goddess in a triangle.

On the lower left the Angel of Death,_ Cru de Ohra,_ stood_._ He wore all purple and was posed in a battle stance his large blue wings splayed around him, the Flamberge, his sword, pointed at some imaginary enemy. To his left was the _Cru de Yeni_,the Angel of Knowledge, he, too, stood in a position prepared for battle, sunset colored wings back and strange swallow weapon poised over his head. The Angel of Life, _Cru de Porson_, at the top of the triangle wore only the purest white, his hands, raised far over his head towards the heavens and his Goddess, cupped pure light, ready to rain purifying judgment upon those who opposed the heavenly powers of his Goddess.

Finally, in the center, was the Goddess herself. She was beautiful, a woman dressed in green and white robes, her green hair streamed around her head in a halo more angelic than even those of her three servants. Her hands were stretched out and, cupped in her palms, was the seed of the Great Tree. The life-giving hope of the world was apparently giving off some sort of white glow, because the picture was discolored around it, giving an almost eerie look to the picture.

But what caught Emil's eye was not the angels in their otherworldly way, or even the seed, but the Goddesses' eyes; they were a vibrant, rich green, and, even though it was only a painting, it felt as if they were boring into his soul. They were not the blank eyes of a picture, but those of a woman who watched her children. They seemed almost mournful, but not pathetically so, they were the determined eyes of someone who was convinced she was going to change the world.

"What does it say?" whispered Emil, he didn't think his voice should reach beyond a whisper in this holy place, but when Richter replied his voice was in the same tone and volume it always was;

"It says, _The Goddess and her Seraphim hold true the Seed of ever-giving Mana that supports the World. It is with the Goddess and the Goddess is with it and when the Chosen awakens Her so too shall she awaken the Seed of the World. And unto the World will descend the life-giving Mana and restore it. Mana will return to the Land and Evil will be vanquished._ The ancient text of Martel."

"Wow, Richter, it's really impressive that you can read the angelic language!"

"I studied it for a lot of my life," said Richter bitterly, "I should hope I could remember something of it now."

"Really? What did you study it for?"

"I don't want to discuss it," hissed the other.

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologize!"

"I-um… right." They returned to wandering the caves in silence until…

"Master Richter!"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, probably just a monster's howl."

"A-alright, if you say so…"

"Emil, Marta is just beyond this door, you stay here, under no circumstances are you to follow me, do you understand?"

"Y-yes, Richter, what are you going to do?"

"It does not matter to you, stay here." The door moved open in a flourish and Richter entered, the door closing behind him.

Emil stood there, unsure of what to do; he wanted to go in, to see what was happening but…

"Ahhh!" A scream echoed from inside. _What if they were attacked? I have to help them!_ Emil did not think twice before dashing in after them, but the sight that met him was far from what he expected. It was not a monster that was attacking, but Richter.

"-Hand over that Ratatosk's Core on your forehead."

"No!" Marta was defiant.

"Then I'll just have to take it, along with your life!"

"What are you _doing_ Richter?!"

"Emil!"

"I thought I told you to stay outside."

Emil dashed across the room to stand protectively in front of Marta, "That's why you were looking for her, to _kill_ her?"

"That's right. I want the Demon Lord's Core!"

"I told you, Ratatosk is _not_ a Demon Lord!"

"Well I won't let you!" With these words, Emil took a flying leap at the elder man.

"That was ill advised, Emil," hissed Richter, he seemed to be seething.

"Thank-you Emil," the call came from across the room where Marta was already disappearing further into the caves.

"Aqua!" Richter shouted.

"Master Richter, I'll get rid of him for you!"

"Nothing over the top, I don't want him dead."

"Ahhh, a talking monster!"

"That's very rude; I am a Centurion, Centurion Aqua, human!"

"Aqua, focus!"

"Right… come my cute pet, get rid of this human!"

A huge turtle-like creature appeared, the room shook as it landed heavily on the floor of the cave. It roared and Emil was blasted back, as a wave of putrid fish-smelling breath hit him. The monster inhaled deeply and exhaled a gush of water that blasted Emil back out the door into the room beyond. The opposite side from where Marta and Richter had disappeared.

"What am I going to do?" cried Emil, "I have to save Marta, but that monster is scary and really strong… I can't fight it!"

"Yes, you are correct, you cannot fight the monster in there the way you are now, however, if you make a pact with Lord Ratatosk, you will be strong enough to save Lady Marta." A voice echoed from behind him, and Emil spun around. All that was there was a black cat-like creature, it had blue-purple streaks around its muscular body, but the thing that caught Emil attention was that it was not only _floating_ but it was obviously the thing that had spoken.

"Ahh, _another_ talking monster!"

"How rude! I too am a Centurion, the Centurion of Darkness. Tenebrae, an honor."

"Although, quite frankly, I think that "monster" suites him quite well too." This voice echoed from a dark corner where, at first, Emil had thought was empty, but on second glance, a man wearing all black occupied it. He was tall and had auburn hair that stuck up around his face and others that hung down in his eye. His mouth was set somewhere between a smirk and a scowl.

However, the strangest part of him was the four little monsters gathered around his feet. A Polwiggle hopped around in a little circle, its round body somehow finding the strength to spring a foot each time it jumped. A wolf sat quietly at his feet, its eyes staring unblinkingly at him, boring into his soul. Around his head an imp floated, the way it moved it seemed almost board, like the entire situation was driving it mad with its dullness. A little green mandragora clinging to his leg with its vine-like arms, its big black eyes looked at him in confusion, why was her master addressing him.

"Tenebrae, why are we wasting our time on _him?"_

"Lady Marta recognized him as the one who saved her in Palmacosta; she has wanted him to be a Knight of Ratatosk since."

"So we make him a Knight while she is killed and Ratatosk is lost?"

"We will get there in time, unless you would like to go on ahead by yourself."

"…" The man did not move.

"That's what I thought. Well, young Emil, what will it be? Will you become a Knight of Ratatosk and help us save Lady Marta?"

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**This any better? Or did you prefer the first version?**

**Poor little femmy, wimpy Emil… **

**R&R**

**~Mystic Yoshi**


	8. In which Emil is Knighted

**Alright, chapter 8, no gags this time, I swear. Though I am glad it was met so well.**

**Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi does not own Tales of Symphonia or its sequel.**

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_So,_ thought Kratos, _this pathetic child is supposed to help us save Marta? Why do I get the feeling that that is _not_ how this is going to work out?_ Kratos did not like the tiny blond child that had just joined their group, he was far too… weak minded… for his own good. Kratos watched the pact making, vaguely wondering if his own had seemed anything like this. No, it seemed a full pact was much different, Emil had sunk to his knees, Tenebrae's black ghost-like power billowing around him, and his clothing morphed away, new blue, black, and gold clothing appeared.

Kratos raised an eyebrow at the style and decided that he was glad that the Centurion had not seen fit to change his own clothing at the time of his pact.

Then, as the pact was ending, the boy's eyes flashed red, and a wave of mana washed over Kratos, Ratatosk's mana. It was as if Ratatosk was here in the cave with them, not somewhere far away on Marta's forehead… He glared at Tenebrae, and the Centurion spared him a glance and nodded once, he would get his explanation.

Soon enough, the blast of mana passed and it was just Emil, lying there on the floor of the cave, slowly he got up, "Emil, Knight of Ratatosk, arise!" The child shakily got up, unable to stand as of yet. This reminded Kratos uncomfortably of what Mithos had had them do when he and Yuan were made Seraphim, the pain of the transformation still made him wince.

"W-what happened?"

"You are now a Knight of Ratatosk, with his power helping you; you should be able to save Lady Marta."

"Fantastic," growled Kratos, in truth, he had not been in a very good mood ever since yesterday when he had had to tell Marta the "truth" about him being a "half-elf". Now she would wander away, it seemed she was thinking on her own, but that was how they had been separated in the first place, "shouldn't we be _going_ now?"

"Yes, yes, Kratos is quite right, we must save Lady Marta!"

"_Thank-you_ Tenebrae, let's go!"

"W-wait, I don't even know how to f-" but he was cut off as Kratos and Tenebrae walked into the room where Aqua and her "pet" were.

"What are you doing here Tenebonehead?!" thrilled the creature.

"I am here to save Lady Marta and Lord Ratatosk!" cried the other.

"…" Kratos listened to the creatures bicker as he pulled out his sword and adjusted his shield, one of these days they were going to get themselves in trouble. He begin giving instructions to the monsters around him, Emil watched closely, "Sophie and Nero stand back and cast spells, try to cover us if we need healing, call if you need anything. Eon, stay behind Tut we don't need you getting hurt cover him if he needs help. Tut, watch Emil, I don't know what kind of fighter he is but I don't think we can risk him getting hurt."

"K-Kratos can they understand you?"

"Of course, just as I can understand them."

"W-will I be able to…?"

"I would imagine."

"_If_ you two are done!" snapped Tenebrae.

"Bu-,"

"If you are ready, Centurions," Kratos cut across Emil's feeble attempts to correct Aqua and Tenebrae that it had been _they_ who were holding the battle up. "Shall we?"

The giant Turtle-like being that stepped forward once again roared, Kratos' pets took position and the battle began. Kratos felt another blast of Ratatosk's mana behind him and Emil charged by, his eyes the glittering, blood red that they had been during the pact making. Kratos lowered his weapon for a moment watching the child hack and slash at the monster; only a small amount of damage was being done, however. His unskilled blade was useless against the monster's shell.

Kratos rolled his eyes, this was getting embarrassing, and he nodded at the monsters to continue what they were told to do and Kratos himself charged forward, Tut and Eon on his heels. While Emil was distracting the beast, Kratos slipped around to slam his sword in to the creature's unguarded back flank, it bellowed in fury and spun to meet him, slamming its back into Emil and sending him flying. Emil, however, managed to spin and land on his feet before letting off a series of Demon Fangs. Unfortunately this, too, only served to irritate the monster even more.

Tut kicked at the enemy, the distraction gave Kratos enough time to slip up beside the Turtle-creature's head and slam his sword into its neck, it screamed in pain and tried to blow the same water that had blasted Emil back into Kratos, but from behind Emil appeared and pushed his blade into the other side of the monster's neck. It let out a gurgling howl of pain before collapsing, its head only partially attached to its neck.

"Hah, pathetic!" he hissed.

"…" Kratos rolled his eyes; he would let the child enjoy his few moments of victory. There was something strange going on though, Emil's voice had deepened and gained a more vicious quality. That, and he was far more… blood thirsty. Kratos did not know Emil all that well, but he doubted the child was normally like this.

Aqua, who had been floating just off to the side with Tenebrae let out a howl of pain and fell to the ground, like her monster.

"W-what's wrong with Aqua?" he was back to his old self, quiet, timid, and almost whiney.

"We Centurions use monsters under our control to battle; we do not do so ourselves, therefore, if our monster loses, we, too, are weakened."

"O-oh, I guess that kinda' makes sense."

"Dammit!" Kratos was examining the ornamentally decorated door; the huge symbols of the Goddess were lit as he tried to open the door.

"And what, may I ask, is wrong?"

"The door was sealed; we'll have to find another way."

"Is there another way?" asked Emil softly.

"I feel a draft, there must be," replied Tenebrae.

"Then let's go!" growled Kratos. Sophie rushed over and clung to Kratos' leg, he knelt down next to her, "What is it?"

"We's hungry!" she cried. It sounded like a faint squeaking to Emil.

"Yeah," called Nero from across the room, "fighting is a lot of work you know!"

Tut barked his agreement and Eon trilled, "Oh, thank the Goddess he _remembers_ us!"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until we get out of here." The monster nodded but still held on. Kratos sighed, "Let's go."

………………

Tenebrae had seen fit to teach Emil everything there was to know about monster pact making and soon enough Emil had two new monsters of his own; a wolf christened Lithos and an imp titled Isho, who, oddly enough, Nero seemed to be eyeing up. Kratos found it strange that he could pick up the subtle hints of the monsters' silent language from Emil's monsters when the child himself seemed to be as deaf as anything.

They had been wandering though the twisting caverns for hours, Kratos had felt the soft touch of light mana since they had entered the caves and as they wandered, the feeling had gotten stronger. The monsters seemed to be getting tired, so Kratos had requested that they rest. He heated the seafood stew that he had prepared earlier that day and Tenebrae got acquainted himself with his new monsters and Emil, it seemed, felt out of place.

"K-Kratos?"

"What Emil?"

"H-how did you and Marta meet? Why are you traveling together?"

"…We met after the Blood Purge, she needed an escort to Asgard; I was available."

"O-oh… Have you been traveling together for long?"

"Only a month and a half or so… Why so interested in Marta?" Kratos, in all honesty had his own theories about the boy's interest.

"I-I was just wondering, I mean I'm doing a lot to help her and I don't know anything about her…" Emil hung his head in embarrassment, "Sorry if I'm bothering you."

"It's fine, there's no need to apologize."

"R-right, that's what Richter said too…"

"If you do not mind me asking a question… how did you end up with Richter?" This was something he had been wondering for some time.

"Um… he saved me from some bullies in Luin, he asked me if I'd seen you or Marta and when she saved me from a bear-."

"You felt the best way to repay her was to sell her out to her enemy."

"Hey! I didn't know that he was going to kill her…I was just trying to help."

"… I suppose I understand, but you have to be more careful. For all you know Tenebrae and I could be out to get the core, you need to be less trusting."

"That's something else I've been wondering, what is this core thing everyone's been freaking out about?"

"That's… complicated, Marta and Tenebrae will explain it when we get out of here."

The seafood stew was finished and Kratos called the monsters over, divvying out bowlfuls to the party, Emil watched Kratos take special care of all the monsters, Sophie waiting until Kratos sat down to run over and eat with him, Tut lapping from his bowl, Nero carefully spooning food into her mouth, and Eon sipping from his. Emil's own "pets" had somehow brought their bowls over to eat with him, he glanced over at Kratos, who was not eating, and mildly wondered if humans could eat the food or if it was specially made for the monsters.

"K-Kratos, can I have some or…?"

"Be my guest."

"Thanks." Emil took a bowl and spooned some of the steaming liquid into it. The stew smelled of fishy seafood. Emil liked the smell; it reminded him of Palmacosta. He took a spoonful and sipped it; the almost sweet food warmed him. "Wow, this is really good Kratos!"

"Thank you…" Kratos himself was not eating, only watching Sophie and the others.

"Aren't you hungry?" Emil asked him, "You've been doing as much as anyone today…"

"No, I'm fine."

"O-okay…"

………………

It was not a well-known fact, but all four of the Heroes had Sorcerers' Rings. Kratos had always kept his secret on the Journey of Regeneration because he felt that it would have brought suspicion to him when he was acting the part of mercenary and it was an unneeded reminder that he had not always been on their side during the second half of their Journey. Though he still had his on the middle finger of his right hand, he had not thought about the ring for quite some time, therefore, when Tenebrae said something about Emil using the Sorcerers' Ring on a small notch in the wall, Kratos was jolted into their conversation.

"-se the Sorcerers' Ring on the wall and see what happens." Cruxis had created these caves four thousand years ago using the Sorcerers' Ring; obviously Tenebrae somehow knew this fact. It made Kratos curious as to how much the Centurion actually knew about the world while he was asleep, the though sent a jolt of embarrassment through Kratos; he was not exactly _pleased_ with what he had done over the past four millennia…

"What's the Sorcerer's Ring?" asked Emil.

"That would be the ring on your finger, it was granted to you by Lord Ratatosk."

"O-okay, so, like… this?"

"Correct." A hidden door appeared in the wall a few paces away, Mithos had always had a thing for secret passages, which probably explained this one.

"Richter!" Emil had been the first to enter the passage, and it seemed that what was on the other side was not much to the child's preference. Looking through the door Kratos was shocked to find Richter collapsed in the center of another passage. Emil was bent over him, "Richter, what happened?"

"L-Lloyd, he… attacked me. I can't believe it. He came out of nowhere. Went after Marta."

"Lloyd…"

_Lloyd…what are you doing here? Be careful my son…_

"Ugh." Richter collapsed, eyes closed, blood dripping from a wound in his shoulder.

"I would think that he would be just fine if we just left him here, the wound is not in any of his vital organs."

"We can't just leave him here! If it weren't for him I wouldn't be here, he gave me courage, we have to save him!"

He wanted to _save_ Richter? This was going to come back to haunt them either way, though, personally, Kratos would prefer if Richter was not the one coming after them. "I think leaving him is an excellent idea. Let's go."

"But we have to get someone!"

"Who? We are far too deep in the cave to go to the entrance; there is not anyone else to go to."

"Aqua, I'll go find Aqua; you can go after Lloyd and Marta."

The idea was not a bad one; however, Kratos still had a feeling that helping Richter was _not_ in their best interests. "Do as you will," he spat.

"Then I'm going to find Aqua." With those words, the child ran back the way they came.

"…" Tenebrae sighed, "Shall we Mr. Aurion?"

"Unfortunately." The two entered the cavern.

Marta and Lloyd seemed to be having some sort of showdown, circling each other, murder in both sets of eyes. Marta charged at Lloyd and he easily deflected her, Kratos felt a welling of pride inside him, Lloyd had gotten so much stronger…

In the center of the room was an alter, much like the old Summon Spirit alters that Cruxis had used, and floating over it, Lumen's Core. It was a gem that shown with pure, white light, the room pulsed with light mana…

"Lloyd!"

"Lady Marta!"

"Damn, not you people again!" hissed Lloyd.

"Lloyd, stop, please! Listen to me, there can be a compromise found!"

"Kratos, don't try reasoning with this guy, he's hopeless," growled Marta.

Lloyd glared, "I don't know why you keep following me-." Marta snorted, "-and I really don't care, this is no place for a mercenary, get out while you still have your head."

"I doubt you could lay a hand on me," hissed Kratos.

"Well then let's find out!" Lloyd raced at Kratos, who pulled out his sword to defend, but Lloyd stopped as a little green blur attached itself to Lloyd's leg. Kratos' eyes widened, Sophie was clinging to his son's leg…

"You play dirty old man, you're obviously not strong enough to fight me yourself."

"I didn't tell her to do that, Lloyden."

"Don't call me that!"

"Listen to your daddy," growled the little monster clinging to Lloyd.

Tenebrae was snickering.

"…" Kratos took a deep breath, saying anything would only serve to aggravate Lloyd more, "Sophie, come here."

"No!"

"Come here, dear, let go of the _nice man's_ leg."

"Not _helping_ Tenebrae!"

"…" Lloyd sighed and bent down, carefully prying the vine-y fingers off of his leg. "Come on, let go."

The way Lloyd was treating his "pet" caused another well of pride in his heart; it had been too long since he had seen his son's true nature. Sophie let go, with a final "big man should be nice to his daddy" and raced back to Kratos.

He opened his mouth to say something when he was saved by Emil's entrance; "Lloyd, Lloyd Irving, why are you here?" the child demanded.

"Who are _you?"_ Lloyd seemed rather uninterested by the new arrival, "Ratatosk girl, you've been recruiting." He seemed to be trying to recover himself.

"Emil?"

"Why did you kill them?"

"Emil, what are you talking about?" asked Marta, breathless at the sight of him.

"My parents, and the people of Palmacosta!"

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**Why is the **_**intro**_** to the game so freaking **_**long?**_** I'm sorry to leave off like this but this is a good place to leave off. I'll have the next chapter up in a week or so I would imagine. Keep the reviews coming people, they are major encouragement, I didn't think I'd be writing so much.**

**R&R**

**-M.Y. **


	9. In Which They Return to Luin

**Okay, another "set-up" chapter, crap, I'm hoping that once I get through this one things will get interesting again. It'll take a few chapters, I'm thinking two-ish more, but then I can have fun with Colette… Hehehe…**

**Oh, and I was just relaying to my beta just how much I LOVE my reviewers, I mean honestly, you people make my day every time I peak at my email I've got a little comment or an "I love Sophie" note, it absolutely makes my day, so thank-you to all of you who R&R every time.**

**If I could, I'd give the lot of you cookies. Lots and lots of cookies…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.**

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"_Why did you kill them?"_

"_Who, Emil?"_

"_My parents and all the people in Palmacosta, why did you kill them?"_

_Lloyd closed his eyes, his face contorted with pain, "Not again with Palmacosta…" Kratos knew he was right; he knew that Lloyd could never be responsible for that-!_

"_How _dare_ you say that, what the hell do you mean "again"? Emil had loosened his sword, pulling it out and pointing it threateningly at Lloyd. "I'll never forgive you for what you did to all those people!" _

_Emil had charged._

That was all Kratos could remember of the battle, Lloyd had charged him and when Kratos blocked, Lloyd had deftly avoided it and slammed his sword over the elder man's head. Everything had gone black. When he had come to, he saw Lloyd grabbing the Core and vanishing from his limited range of sight. He groaned and rose, had he really been knocked out before the battle had even _begun?_ It was embarrassing!

"W-what happened?" asked Emil, "Where's Lloyd?"

"He left," growled Kratos.

"Yeah, I guess he decided not to kill us…" Marta examined Emil from where she was sitting next to him.

"Lady Marta, Centurion Lumen's Core is…"

"No!" hissed Kratos, "What the hell does Lloyd want the Core for?"

"You mean that white jewel that Lloyd ran off with?"

"Lloyd took it?"

"Was it important?"

"Lumen's Core is essential to our journey!" explained Tenebrae, "We must hurry."

"You're right Kratos come on, but first; thank you for saving me again!"

"I-it was no big deal… I owed you. And besides, I was pretty much useless."

"No, you really did save me!" Kratos decided to keep his mouth shut, he had been useless in that battle, "You became a Knight of Ratatosk, that's why you could save me! I always thought you would make a wonderful Knight, and I was right! I knew it from the first time we met!"

"W-what?"

"Oh, I guess it was just more memorable for me, but honestly, I'm really grateful for you saving me again!"

"Lady Marta, we must hurry!"

"Right, Emil, would you stay with us until we get out of here?"

"Sure."

Kratos rolled his eyes, it was obvious what the child was thinking; _these people are so strange!_ He did not have a problem with Emil coming, but he did wish Marta had at least _asked._ She had been very distant with him since he had lied and said he was a half-elf. Tenebrae had said that she did not like half-elves but was she really so racist?

The wandered to the door, and Marta swore as she looked at the door, "It's sealed, damn Lloyd!"

Kratos had a feeling that she was doing that just to spite him.

"He sealed the door! I'm sure he did it just to trap us here!"

"Then we'll just have to find another way out." Kratos very carefully did not take a side.

"H-hey, what's this?" Kratos and Marta turned to find Emil holding a mask, it was strangely bird beaked and made of a golden metal with read painted in strange shapes.

"Lloyd was wearing that when he came in here, he threw it off after he attacked me! It's kind of reminds me of that play "The Phantom of the Operetta…"

"Really? It looks more like "F for Feud."

"Oh, is that the one where-."

"What _are_ the two of you _talking_ about?" Kratos had had to interrupt them when they had started discussing that, it made no sense, and quite honestly he was in no mood to put up with their childish antics. "I think our priority should be trying to _get out of here and find Lumen's Core."_

"R-right, if we examine the room, we'll find another way out," said Marta suddenly worried by Kratos' tone.

"I feel a draft; there must be another way out."

The four of them, after a detailed examination of the room, found another door in the shadowy back of the cave, but it too was sealed.

"Oh this is just ridiculous!" shrieked Marta, Kratos had to agree with her, Lloyd was either very ticked, very genius, or insane. Emil, the ever quiet, timid, and observant newcomer deftly tapped Kratos on the shoulder and pointed to a strange poster that no one else had noticed on their examination of the door.

If Kratos had been anyone else or had had any less control than he had, he would have laughed outright, there in the middle of the locked room with six monsters, two children and a Centurion looking on, Kratos would have broken out into peals of endless laughter. As it was, he did nothing but allow his eyes to widen from the strange poster; Lloyd, it appeared, had taken more of a liking to his Desian wanted poster than he had first let on. The bizarre, badly drawn picture of Lloyd hung with scribbled words grafting it "Jewel Hunter Lloyd Irving was Here" it proclaimed, an unexplained phenomenon, or so Kratos' thoughts went.

"Arrgh, that jerk! Emil, set it on fire!"

"Emil, burn it for the Lady."

"Wait, I'm keeping this." Everyone looked at Kratos, "It may serve a purpose as to the explanation for Lloyd's unexplained actions."

"Oh, fine, whatever, since you _care_ so much." Marta was outright mocking him, he would have to speak to the girl, but it would serve no purpose to embarrass her in front of her obvious crush, which would be cruel. That did not, of course, imply that it did not have its positive factors.

"Lady Marta, Kratos, please keep your childish bickering to a minimum." Obviously Tenebrae had no such reservations.

Kratos slipped his fingers under the sturdy paper and unstuck it from the wall, it came off easily and behind it was… a switch.

"That must open the door…" trailed Marta, "Let's go guys."

"Agreed."

"Yeah."

"Unfortunately, I think it is too late to save Lumen's Core, I can barely feel the presence of the Core at all…"

"I really don't get what's so important about these Cores… would you really fight over them?"

"Oh, right, we haven't explained any of this to you, have we? I'm sorry Emil." Marta blushed, "To put is simply the Centurions' Cores are the eggs of Centurions like Tenebrae."

"One could say that the Cores contain Centurions in hibernation."

"And the Core on my forehead is Ratatosk's Core and-."

"T-the Demon Lord's egg?"

"Ratatosk is _not_ the Demon Lord; he's the Lord of all monsters!"

"Perhaps we should take the time to explain all of this to Emil."

Kratos, who had been spacing through all of this, cut in; "That does not change the fact that it would be in our best interest of leave," Kratos pointed out and then gestured to the six little monsters, "besides, our charges seem to be getting tired."

"You're right, Kratos, come on Eon." The tiny Polwiggle jumped into the girl's arms, Emil pressed the switch in the wall and the door opened and Marta, Eon, Emil, Isho, Nero, Kratos, Sophie, Tut, and Lithos filed through.

………………

It was not much longer that, with Emil and Marta chatting and finding new a creative ways to insult his son (Kratos could not help but recall he and Yuan taking part in such exercises, replacing Lloyd with Mithos, of course), that the small parade emerged once again into the sunshine. Kratos took a deep lung-full of fresh air and Marta stretched, Emil blinked and squinted against the bright light, looking across the horizon to where the sun was setting, painting the skyline red and purple with signs of the coming night.

_Red sky at night, sailor's delight,_ though Kratos fondly, reemerging into the world had put Kratos in a good mood, he had almost forgiven Marta for her cool treatment.

"Where are we?" asked Emil.

"I'm not sure…" murmured Marta.

"If I'm not much mistaken," stated Kratos, "this would be the remains of the Tower of Mana." He looked across the beautiful landscape."Should we stop here and eat, or wait until we get back into Luin?"

"Food now!" cried Eon and Tut, and Kratos got a lot of positive vibes from Isho and Lithos.

"What the Toad and Doggie-boy said!" agreed Nero in her own bitter way.

Kratos glanced at Sophie but she made no physical notion as to what she wanted, Kratos made a mental note to talk to her and find out what was wrong the first chance he got. She actually looked like a wilted plant, her arms hung by her sides and her head and shoulders were slumped and her skin was a slightly sicklier green.

But he was jogged from his thoughts by Emil stuttering "I-I think my aunt and uncle are probably worried about me, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get back to Luin…"

"That's no problem!" said Marta and all of the monsters seemed to deflate, like balloons with the air let out of them.

"_Thank you_ Marta for letting me in on this decision, but yes, Emil, it would certainly be no problem for us to take you back to Luin." Marta blushed and Emil muttered a soft word of thanks, the Centurion just rolled his eyes.

"But wait, we have to explain to Emil!"

"Do as you wish." And Marta did, she, with the help of Tenebrae, broke into the story of Ratatosk and the Cores.

……………..

Luin was just as he remembered it, almost. Warm, welcoming shops, cobblestone streets, the statues of Lloyd, Sheena, and Raine well kept, the only difference was the people: the glared as the strange party passed through the town toward the Mayor's home.

For some strange reason Emil had been very uncomfortable taking them to see his aunt and uncle. Kratos, in all honesty, did not really care but Marta, he knew, had several of her own theories about it.

"He's probably too shy to introduce his girlfriend to his aunt and uncle!"

"Whatever you say Lady Marta."

Kratos _highly_ doubted it.

The monsters had been left just outside of town so as not to cause a panic, though Kratos was going to visit them for dinner. There _had_ to be a better way to bring the monsters around with them.

They were going to tell the Mayor about what had happened with Richter in the cave. Kratos had a feeling that he was not going to like the idea of Emil, Marta, and himself being attacked by Lloyd.

Lloyd… Why had he taken Kratos out of battle? There were two reasons that came to mind, the first being that he was obviously the strongest in their little party, he also controlled the monsters. Logic would have Lloyd wanting to take him out of play. The second reason; perhaps Lloyd did not want to fight him; maybe he had finally recognized him.

Kratos knew that these were false hopes, but he could not stop believing in his son.

When they reached the shop the Mayor lived over, they were, much to everyone's surprise, ambushed be Hawk, a very harassed looking Vanguard member, and two of his lackeys.

"Lady Marta, Commander Brute says that if you return with us and hand over Ratatosk's Core, all will be forgiven."

Hawk, Kratos knew only by reputation, mostly from Marta, but no one had ever mentioned just how oddly _twitchy _the man was, he looked like he was ready to block an attack that he was expecting, from an attacker no one else could see.

He also had hair that for some reason or another reminded Kratos irritatingly of Botta's. Did all subordinates have to spike up their hair like they had horns?

"You think I could forgive _you_ for what you've done? Tell _Commander_ Brute that I can never forgive him for what he's done."

"Fine, than we have order to attack and take you by force!"

Kratos was in front of Marta with his sword out and at the other's neck before the command to attack was even given. "I don't think that that would be in your best interest," he hissed.

"Get them men!" But the shout did not come from the man at sword point, but from behind him, Kratos glanced up to see… a Knight of _Martel?_ The man who had spoken was huge and wearing gold armor and, _again_, sported a very Botta like hairstyle. The men who surrounded him looked like the Papal Knights that had plagued Lloyd on the Journey of Regeneration. They raced up to where the small brawl was taking place; the Martel Knights attacked the shocked Vanguard, effortlessly taking them down.

Kratos removed his sword, but put it away wearily. Emil had just brought his sword and was looking terrified. "Now, hand over the Ratatosk's Core!" shouted the man in gold.

"You people are all the same…" grumbled Marta.

"Now is _not_ the time!" shouted Kratos, he grabbed Marta's hand, and ran, assuming that Emil was following. There was not much he could do; Ratatosk's Core was not only out of the question as a bargaining tool, but could not be removed from Marta's forehead. Pulling them out of the northwest entrance and into the forest Kratos ran ways to get them out of the situation. They hovered in the trees, listening.

"People of Luin, we have been granted permission to destroy this town by Lloyd the Great!" A silent shock seemed to emanate from the town. "But if Marta Lualdi steps forward and sacrifices herself, we may just let the town remain standing!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**GASP! I need to get out of the habit of cliffhangers… ah, well; it keeps my beloved readers on their toes. Next chapter they are **_**so**_** out of Luin. I am SICK of these opening scenes. If you haven't noticed I mean I literally devoted like FIVE CHAPTERS to the beginning. Things will get interesting again soon. I promise.**

**And I promise to myself that I will **_**never**_** write this scene again.**

**R&R**

**-M.Y.**


	10. In Which All Hell Breakes Loose

**We're so one chapter away from leaving Luin! WOOT!!!!**

**Hehehe…wings, why do I love angels? WINGS!!! Yoshi is a very happy authoress right about now. Oh, and for those of you who like a little blood, I tried to add some of that to the mixture too. Oh, and I hate Magnar, he doesn't have a lot of developed character. Like none at **_**all**_** it's annoying.**

**Disclaimer: I cannot honestly say that I own Tales of Symphonia in any way, shape, or form.**

**ON WITH THE STORY!!!! **

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"_If Marta Lualdi does not turn herself over we will destroy Luin!"_

The words of the Gold-clad knight still echoed around in the bitter winter air, would the Church of Martel go so far to control Ratatosk's Core that they would destroy Luin? And more importantly, at least in Kratos' opinion, was _Lloyd_ really the one who gave the command?

The prospects were horrible.

"W-what are we going to do?" cried Emil, "We can't let them destroy Luin!"

"But we can't let them take Ratatosk's Core!"

"You want Luin to turn into the next Palmacosta?"

The implications of Emil's words hung in the air, if they left, Luin would be destroyed; burned and pillaged, its people murdered. However, handing over Marta, not to mention the Core, would put not only Marta herself in danger but if the Core was lost, who knew what the Church of Martel would do with it? Kratos knew the Church all too well; he had been at its head for four thousand years. No, they could not let this happen.

"Both of you, stop fighting," hissed Kratos, "the answer is simple, we go in and fight-."

"But they have an army!"

"So do we, of _monsters_, if they do not flee at the sight of monsters attacking at the command of men, then we shall cut them down while they are still in shock."

"O-okay, Kratos," Marta looked worried now, "we'll wait here… you go get the… monsters. We still have an hour, that's what the man said."

"Right, I'll be back in ten minutes, don't do anything _stupid_, come find me if there are problems."

"Okay, you be careful too…"

Why did Kratos have the feeling that Marta was trying to get rid of him?

He dashed deeper into the woods; he would have to run around the town, an interesting feat to complete in ten minutes, perhaps one could make it around _once_ but back as well? It should take any _normal_ person half an hour to do this, the simple solution? Wings.

He stretched, knowing full well that he had not taken the appendages out in far too long, that they would repay him with a bloody vengeance; still, the need was there. He ceased running and stood in the woods for a moment, every part of his body forcing itself to relax, preparing for the release. Kratos felt a sharp pain in his shoulders and then a cool, content feeling, a _good_ pain, like stretching a sore muscle.

The feeling was accompanied by the sound of ripping flesh and a tingling, almost _tickling,_ feeling of a sticky liquid running down his back.

The blue-black wings let off a silver light as he stretched them, they created what little light there was to see by; night had fallen, the stars appearing in the sky. Anyone who saw him would have been under the delusion, if only for a moment, that one of the stars had fallen from the cosmos. He splayed the new appendages and leapt from the ground, glancing down for a moment to see a pool of red, sticky blood reflecting the light from his wings.

Kratos whisked through the trees, the wind blowing his auburn hair from his eyes. Around him, the sounds of leaves shaking in the wind his wings stirred around him. Kratos weaved expertly between the trees; four thousand years of practice had taught him the fastest ways to avoid trees. Even in the dark, he could maneuver seemingly effortlessly through the dark forest.

He landed delicately, regretting pulling his wings back into himself, their release was refreshing but terrifying the monsters would not be in his best interest. He glanced back as his wings returned to their resting place in his back, noting coldly the quickly drying blood that clung to his clothes, not to mention the slits the wings had created in his clothing. He would have to find an explanation, or fix it before anyone noticed.

Another price paid for not bringing his wings out; they became more… solid, if he neglected them, they would become a _part_ of him, not just mana. Granted they already were a part of him, but more so than they already were. An angel was a very… complicated creature.

The monsters, Sophie, Nero, Eon, Tut, Isho, and Lithos were seated around a tiny fire that Kratos had prepared for the night; he had hoped that it would last until he could return this evening, though not under these circumstances. Nero was talking quietly with Isho, Emil's imp, Tut and Lithos were trying to please Eon, who was apparently missing sleeping with Marta and found it "too cold". Sophie was sitting just outside the small ring of firelight, fiddling with her fingers; there had been something wrong with her since they had left the cave. Under normal circumstances Kratos would have checked with her, but there had been no time.

He purposely walked loudly into the makeshift campsite so as not to frighten any of them. His own monsters would never attack him, but Isho and Lithos still did not quite trust him. Bright ones, those two.

"Master," Tut jumped up at Kratos' arrival, "is something wrong?"

"…" he nodded at the wolf, "Yes, thank-you Tut, we need all of you, Marta and Emil are in danger." At Emil's name Lithos and Isho were on their feet, Kratos could sense worry radiating from the both of them.

"Oh, great," muttered Nero, "we have to save your guys' tails _again."_ By the imp's tone, Kratos had the feeling that if she could, she would be rolling her eyes.

"If you don't _mind,"_ hissed Kratos, "we should be going."

………………

The run back to where Kratos had left Marta and Emil was maddeningly long for both he and the monsters. Lithos and Isho were tense and on edge the entire run, but when their arrived back, the small forest clearing was empty. Kratos was horror-struck, what if they had been captured, or run off? On _his_ watch too… Damn, what had they been thinking? How could he have just left them there, they were not even that far from Luin, they could so easily been found and dragged back, executed by now even…

"I smell them! They went this way, Marta first, then Emil and Lord Tenebrae," barked Tut from across the clearing. Kratos glanced over and froze: his stomach dropping.

They headed back to Luin.

..................

They were still in the forest when the screams started: the terrified crying of children, the screams of women, shouts of men. The smell of smoke erupted in his nostrils, with it came the sound of fire, burning cracking… The Church of Martel was setting fire to the town.

Kratos forced his legs to move faster.

_Good Gods, what have they done?_

The town flamed orange and red in the night; his fault, it was his fault; if they had not created that damn Church none of this would have happened. Anna's hometown… the town they had rebuilt, poured funds into. Everything was, quite literally, going up in flames. It looked like a Desian attack: vicious, bloodthirsty…

He and the monsters tore into town, his sword slicing through the sentries posted to keep him, or anyone else who wanted to help the "renegade" town, out. He needed only to step across the singed bridge to see his charges; Marta forced into a kneeling position in front of the man in gold armor, Emil, his eyes glowing red with Ratatosk's power, sword out slashing through the guards that came after him.

Kratos and the monsters' entrance caused a surprised silence from all present, it was not every day that one saw a man charge in, followed by six little monsters nonetheless, to save the day. Emil recovered fastest; regaining his composure and practically ripping through a guard's neck with his sword.

"You get these dim-wits," hissed Emil, "that one's _mine."_ Kratos had the feeling that he would _not_ want to be the commander knight at that moment. He and the six little minions charged into battle.

"You cannot defeat us," shouted the knight, "we will show you the divine wrath of the Goddess Martel!"

"Shut up!" shouted Emil, "I don't want to hear this crap anymore!" Kratos watched silently as he dodged two guards; one was taken down by Nero, the other by Tut. Isho and Lithos growled and swiped at anyone who got too close.

Kratos expected to see Emil stick his sword through the man's gut, the sword, he imagined, was sharp enough to do so. What he did not expect was that Emil would toss aside the weapon and went at the man with his fists, laughing as he did so.

Marta's eyes widened, a soft horrified gasp escaped her lips, "Emil, Emil that's enough!" The Knight of Ratatosk did not heed her words. "Emil, please!"

"…" Eventually, Emil took a step back looking at his handiwork; the man was bleeding and broken; sickly purple and black bruises were blooming across the bits of skin that Kratos could see. His armor had been cracked in more than one place and it, too, was covered in the man's red blood. "How's that for you "divine punishment"?" growled Emil.

The boy's fists were, too, covered in blood; and not all of it was the blood of his enemy. His knuckles were ripped from slamming into the hard armor; skin clumped around his fingers and blood fell freely, mingling, as it hit the ground, with the blood of the mangled man before him.

Marta's eyes were wide, distorted by horror. She still knelt where she had been forced down by the men that lay in pools of their own blood around her. Kratos stepped from his own circle of corpses and offered his hand to the young girl, gently helping her to her feet. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged tightly, crying. Slowly, Kratos slipped his arms around the girl and gave her a comforting squeeze. A mutual understanding developed between them; all was forgiven from both parties.

"I-I…" Emil had returned to himself, he was looking at his victim, who whimpered and flinched away from the innocent green gaze. "What have I done?"

That was when one of the knights, a lackey of the broken man before them, came upon the scene. "W-what the hell?!" The question seemed so… blunt after what had just happened. "Sir?"

"Get me out of here you fool!" croaked the leader.

The man stepped forward, weapon pointed at Kratos' chest, assuming that he was the leader of the party.

"T-tell your… creatures to step aside and let us through, we'll retreat from this town…for now."

Kratos was not in the mood for more killing, he could sense that Marta could not take much more, "You know that it would be almost effortless for me to slit your throat, you would not even realize what had happened until you reached hell." The words were just that; words. An empty threat, but the best offence was sometimes to simply terrify the enemy into submission.

"I-I-."

"Get out."

"What?"

"Get out, take your commander and get out."

"But-?"

"_You heard him, get out, now!"_ Marta was suddenly screaming, horror turned to anger as she turned hatred and fury written across her face. The man was running with his commander over his shoulder faster than any human, in Kratos' opinion, should be able to run.

"M-Marta?" whimpered Emil; he was obviously terrified of her turning for him next, "L-let's go…" The girl nodded, she was either unwilling to speak to the boy, or afraid she would start yelling again.

"Emil, let's return to your home, I think we all need a good night's rest."

"S-shouldn't we talk to the Mayor first?"

"… Marta, is that alright with you?" Kratos was concerned about the girl.

"Y-yes, we should talk to him, I'll be fine." But she still stumbled as she walked, eventually Eon bounced into her arms, his familiar presence helping to calm her.

The part of Luin that they Mayor resided in was the least touched, and the farthest in; the three of them, and their monsters were forced to parade, covered in blood through the town. Tenebrae, at least, kept himself invisible to the human eye; apparently following Marta and Emil on their suicide mission instead of coming to get Kratos had been his _brilliant_ idea.

Everywhere they went they received suspicious looks and hostile glares. Emil approached someone he apparently knew and inquired about the state of their part of town. "E-Emil!" the girl was obviously flustered, "I um… y-you should." Her eyes continually strayed down to his bloodied hands, "Just go, Emil, please, just leave me alone!" She ran back into the singed house. Kratos and Marta watched with worried expressions. There was no way that, if Emil did not want to travel with them, he would be able to settle down as he had been before…

Emil did not meet either of their eyes as he passed by them, gaze forward, "Let's go."

They Mayor resided above an item shop his family ran; but outside they were stopped by an angry red-faced man and a gaunt woman standing outside.

"Uncle Alba, Aunt Flora!" Emil, apparently, recognized them.

"Emil…" Flora's voice was deep and mournful.

"You stay away you little Demon!" shouted Alba.

"How dare you?" the question erupted from both Kratos and Marta.

"He is your nephew!" shouted Kratos, Marta silenced herself, allowing Kratos his anger, "How could you be so cruel to your family?" The pair was silent as they watched the strange man explode at them, "He is your flesh and blood, he looks up to you and you treat him like dirt, what kind of disgusting example does that set for him?"

Kratos finished, panting; what he would do to have Lloyd back, no secrets among them, and here they were treating their charge as if he was a monster…

"Y-you shouldn't tell another man wha-," Alba was cut off as Kratos gracefully whisked by him into the shop.

………………

"So that's what happened…" whispered the Mayor, they had been given tea when they had arrived; the Mayor had not stopped apologizing for not listening to Emil as they told their tale. "I don't know what to say…"

"I think first and foremost that Emil needs a place to stay."

"Actually, I was going to ask Emil if he would be willing to go and find Lloyd so as to find out what is going on. The Lloyd I used to know would never do this, so if he would be as kind as to so…"

"So that is how you are going to save Emil from the peoples' hatred," stated Marta coldly.

"I see…" murmured Kratos.

"I'll go, I don't want to stay here," and with those words Emil quit the room.

"I'm sorry Emil…" the Mayor whispered as Marta ran after Emil.

"Mayor, I have yet to discuss this with Marta, but I would assume that it would be no problem if we brought Emil with us on our journey."

"Thank you; keep him safe, I hope that one day he can return, but until that day-."

"Until that Day I'll watch over him."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**THANK GODDESS THAT'S OVER!**

**They are **_**out**_** of Luin! Yeah!**

**Next chapter, character building, and maybe, **_**maybe**_** Asgard.**

**R&R**

**~M.Y.**


	11. In Which There is Character Building

**Well, I made it to double digits… What does that tell you about my life, or lack thereof? *Sweat drop***

**I have had WAAAAYYY too much actual plot development; I think it's time for a little character building! That and I have just not written enough of Tenebrae lately.**

**Lots of POV switching, it should make sense for the most part though.**

**Oh, and I think I'm going to' start **_**italicizing everything the monsters say so that you can tell who's talking easier.**_

**Danke for the reviews, loves, what I would do without you guys I don't know… probably not write.**

**Disclaimer: Yes, I own Tales of Symphonia… not. Come on guys you really think this would be FANFICTION if I owned TOS? **

**Oh, and über KOR spoilers here, if anyone cares. I guess if you haven't finished the game it won't make sense to you but don't say I didn't warn you!**

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Back to Asgard, this time their journey coupled with finding Lloyd; they would have had to find his son one way or another just to locate Lumen's Core**, **but Emil was now on a mission to find the truth. It came as a surprise to Kratos that the mission was what he had thought of the journey with Marta all along. Finding Lloyd had been his goal from the beginning, now it was just put into plain words.

Outside of Luin, they had decided that Kratos would go in and restock on food, gels, and other supplies on his own, taking Emil back into the city would most likely not get the best reaction from the citizens. Therefore, Marta and Emil, along with the monsters waited not far from the eastern entrance while Kratos and invisa-Tenebrae returned into Luin for fresh supplies.

"Well Kratos, where to begin?"

"There is a decent market over here," he pointed, "there are gels there too."

"Excellent."

"I also need a new shield, this one is dented in several places; did you notice anything Marta needed?"

"Well, now that you mention it-."

"Absolutely not, she can buy her _own_ undergarments."

"Hehe…"

"_Master Kratos!"_ Both angel and invisible Centurion turned to see Sophie darting in-between people toward them; some did not notice while others let out little shrikes of terror, but did nothing to protect themselves. _"Wait! Please wait!"_

"Sophie, what are you doing here?" Kratos knelt down by the little monster, "I thought I told you to keep an eye on Marta and Emil." He was not angry per-say, but as a parent, he had learned this with Lloyd, you had to scold just a bit for not listening.

"_I-I wanted to come with you…"_

"The reason I left you behind was because I didn't want to scare people."

"_Oh…"_

"Oh, don't worry dear;" stated Tenebrae, who apparently, was feeling very spiteful today, "You're too cute to scare anyone."

"_T-thank you Lord Tenebrae!"_ the little monster squeaked and she blushed a deep green.

"You can come, but try to keep a low profile." Why was it that even _he_ could not say no to cute things?

Shopping was apparently hard-wired into the female brain, no matter what species you were; the mandragora took to it as if she had been doing it all of her short life. Watching with wide eyes as Kratos bartered for fruits, vegetables, rice, meats, and other necessities. Tenebrae would float around and keep her from wandering too far off if Kratos was distracted by human interaction.

Kratos was glad she was happy; she had been in a funk since they had left the caves and, or so Kratos thought, was that she had not been getting as much attention. In one shop there was a shiny marble that caught her admiration; it was a pretty blue thing, and while she was distracted by Tenebrae he quickly bought if for her; he had been picking up little knick-knacks for all of the monsters as he shopped they had done a good job helping them with saving Luin.

He bought a little candy for Eon, Tut, Isho and Lithos, Nero was slightly harder to find something for, in the end, she got a new toy knife.

It was the middle of the night by the time he finished shopping; odd hours, but most people could not sleep, picking at burned pieces of wood, any money a stray mercenary could give was appreciated, and most people wanted him gone anyway, knowing he was with Emil. Sophie was sleep in his arms as the three made their way back to Emil and Marta's makeshift camp.

"Kratos, I think your little pet," said Tenebrae materializing next to him, "is ready to take on her next form."

Kratos glance over at the cat-like Centurion, "You make it sound like she's a Protozoan."

"Something like that, Protozoans were just early forms of monsters, and it's a trait that they still share with their kin."

"I see. I did not know they were related."

"Monsters were the affects of strange breeding that took place thousands of years before humans were born to this world."

"Hmm… Is that the reason she's been acting so strange?"

"Mood swings, like teenagers. The monsters are maturing, you see, these things are natural."

"Yes, of course." He looked down at the mandragora again. "Is there any way to speed up the process?"

"No, it will happen in time."

They walked in silence though the frost bitten woods, nowhere in Sylvarant did it ever actually snow; the climate was far too temperate. It had always been the one downside to the world, the lack of real _weather_ the temperature ever only reached eighty degrees, and that was only in the height of summer.

"Tenebrae," said Kratos, breaking the silence, "in all of the commotion, you never did tell me why I sensed so much of Ratatosk's power when you were knighting Emil. I cannot be called an expert on these things, but from what I recall of the few Knightings I have witnessed, I have never felt that much power…"

Tenebrae looked awkward, unwilling to meet Kratos' eyes. "That is a rather… touchy subject… I do not think Lord Ratatosk would thank me for telling you."

"He most likely will not appreciate the fact that you knighted me either."

"Point taken, however…"

"Tenebrae…"

"Oh, fine! Emil has a… special role in Lord Ratatosk's plans. You see, when my Lord was sealed inside his Core, he left a physical… imprint, if you would. Emil is that shell."

"What does Ratatosk wish to do with this shell?"

The question hung in the air between them.

"The shell is already in use; Lord Ratatosk will use it as his new form."

"Like the Regeneration…"

"Nothing like that. Lord Ratatosk created the body; no one else's was taken."

"And what will happen to Emil?"

"That… I am unsure of."

………………

Kratos and Tenebrae had left Emil and Marta sitting in a little makeshift camp a mile outside of Luin. Honestly, Emil did not want to return to Luin, who would? In addition, he was thankful to Kratos for seeming to understand. Tenebrae was not bad or anything, but he was not… comforting. Too teasing and… Emil could not put words to the Centurion. He knew that Tenebrae meant well but he was lacking in the _human_ factor, and, at that moment, Emil needed to understand himself. He really needed a friend.

Oh, Marta had shown herself to be almost _annoyingly_ loyal, but Kratos, it seemed, just followed the girl. He kept her safe, was her confident, showed her no fear; her guardian angel. (I took the angelic translation thing out because it made it sound like Kratos's POV and I was confused,) Emil had watched, shocked, as Marta had turned to the intimidating man, who, just hours before, she seemed to be angry at, and broke down in his arms…

Why did that cause him so much pain?

Emil had thought that Marta would desert him the second she could; he was the freak with the split personality, after all, but she had asked to be allowed on Emil's journey; dragging Kratos along with her. She had called him her "prince". He glanced over at the girl, sitting with Tut and Eon, Kratos' wolf and polwiggle, petting them, and chatting up a storm. She was beautiful, it was true; she had the softest blue eyes and pretty complexion. Truly a sight to behold.

Bah! Now he sounded like Tenebrae!

While Emil had been pondering away about his new role in the lives of these friends, he had not noticed the two monsters that approached from behind.

"_Master Emil?"_ the question went unheard, _"Emil! Symphonia to Emil, is anyone home?"_ Lithos screamed into the Knights head, he heard none of it.

"_Dude, chill, he only became a Knight today, ya' know what Tenebrae said, he won't be able to hear us for, like, a few weeks,"_ Isho said curtly, he did not want to admit it, but he had been hoping that the boy would talk to them, but he really could not blame him, he'd been through a lot today…

From the outskirts of the camp, no one noticed Nero watching them, or, more specifically, Isho. She had never met another imp before; it was nice, having company. Moreover, he was cute, that was always a bonus. She had, of course, seen Sophie run off, Nero did not try to stop her, however, she was either going to go vent or running after Kratos.

She had no issue with Kratos; actually, compared to Emil, she had defiantly gotten the better end of the stick. Although, sometimes she wished he would pay more attention… Well, it was a monster's bane, she was not cute, or strong, or, honestly, very friendly. She did not hold it against him, but she wished that she were a little more noticed…

………………

Tenebrae had watched in silence as Kratos had carefully restocked their supplies; making sure that they had everything necessary to get them to Asgard; food, gels, life bottles, the list when on and on. However, the thing that had really caught the Centurion's attention was the way Kratos had suddenly taken to being a Knight of Ratatosk. He had obviously grown much more comfortable in his new role since he had told Tenebrae whom he was, that had made the pair much more comfortable around one another, but it was the way Kratos had grown so affectionate toward the four little monsters under his power that had really touched Tenebrae.

At first he had felt very untrusting of the small creatures, for a man who had spent his entire life fighting his Lord's creations, he had taken to them faster than Tenebrae could have hoped.

Although, it was strange to hear from Kratos Aurion again; he was one man whom Tenebrae had not expected to find in the world. Yes, he, along with some others, had betrayed Lord Ratatosk, but he _seemed_ to be on their side. Granted, Kratos had been unwilling to say anything about the past four thousand years, anything about what he had been doing, how he had managed to survive for so long.

Tenebrae, for once in his long life, had not pressed the matter.

Besides, Tenebrae could not be suspicious at that moment; he was far too victorious; he had finally returned his Lord's power to his vessel. It had been a simple releasing of his Centurion's power that had awoken Ratatosk.

He had to question his Lord's taste in vessel though.

………………

Kratos and Tenebrae arrived back at camp to find the majority of its occupants asleep; it was, by that time, practically three o'clock in the morning and human children needed their rest. Most of the monsters, too, were asleep, Tut and Eon "guarding" Marta and Lithos and Isho snuggled up against the sleeping form of Emil.

Emil, good Gods that child reminded him of Mithos, with shorter hair, no evil laugh, and less insanity, but still… he had even gotten himself kicked out of his village for goddess' sake! He just hoped that Marta would not die and cause Emil to try to start a fake religion and start killing people. He had to count his blessings though, at least Lloyd was the one with the eternal sword.

With one hand, Kratos pulled out his bedroll and laid Sophie on it, then he turned searching for something missing in the little scene; he spotted it in the shadows.

"Nero did anything happen while we were gone?" his voice was soft so as not to wake anyone up.

"_Nah, everything's cool Lord K. I could'a taken care of anything."_

"Thank you for watching them, Nero."

"_Yup."_

"Are you hungry?"

"_Food…"_

"…" Kratos smirked just a bit, "What would you like?"

"_Meat?! Do you have any meat O' great and powerful Seraph?"_

"I'll see what I can do, then you should get to bed."

"_But I'm not _tired_."_

"Nero, you sound like a whiney child."

"_Yeah, that's sorta' what I was going for."_

"You'll need to sleep eventually, but-."

"_But until then I can stay up!"_

………………

When the rest of the world awoke, Kratos was sitting reading a book he had picked up in Luin, _Regeneration: The Story of the Chosen of Regeneration's Journey to Save the World._ It was already amusing him. Yuan had told him that when Lloyd, Colette and the others had told their story, Kratos had been put in and then killed at the end of the journey; his betrayal was completely skipped over. It was hilarious.

Nero was a black lump, curled next to Sophie.

Reading, he snickered; did he really sound that full of himself? _"I am Kratos Aurion, a mercenary; if you can pay me I will accept the job of guarding the Chosen."_ He had not realized that when Yuan called him a "pompous jackass" he had meant if quite so seriously.

"K-Kraatos," Marta yawned, "What's so funny?"

"…" Kratos held up the book.

"I don't think that's supposed to be funny…" She glanced over at Emil who was still out; he had had a long day though. She turned back to Kratos, "Hey, can I make breakfast this morning?"

"I don't see why that would be a problem, I was going to do bacon and eggs, everyone could use a little more protein, but if you want to make something else…"

"No, that's great!"

Minutes later the smell of frying bacon filled the clearing and woken the monsters, brought Tenebrae back and raised the half-dead Emil from his grave of blankets, "Mmm… that smells good!"

"Anything for my prince!"

Kratos rolled his eyes, still reading. Through the first half of the journey, they had told everything that had happened, minus Lloyd and Genis' little run in with the Renegades. Tenebrae was looking over Kratos' shoulder.

"_Lloyd was left behind in Iselia as Professor Sage, Aurion, and the Chosen progressed on the journey, they traveled for several days towards the Sylvaranti desert of Triet where the Angel Remiel had directed them."_ Tenebrae read, "Fascinating, was it difficult traveling with two women?"

"You have no idea."

"Humph," Marta snorted.

"What?" Emil was lost.

"Oh, don't worry about it Emil. Breakfast's ready!" All of the monsters crowded around Marta and she began handing out platefuls of food to them all. Emil was close behind, but Kratos only planned to take a small plate so as not to offend the girl; otherwise, he was not hungry.

When she loaded up the plates, everyone took the first bite at the same time, so that when they put it to their mouths, they all fell at the same time as well. Marta looked horrified. Even Kratos, who, as a general rule, _could not taste,_ felt his tongue shrivel up and die.

"W-what do you think?" Marta asked nervously, "Daddy always loved my cooking."

"_Then he must've not had taste buds!"_ screamed Nero.

"_My tongue!" _whimpered Eon.

"_Yucky, yucky, yucky!"_ Sophie was practically in tears.

"I-ugh… From now on, Kratos cooks…" Emil looked like he was going to pass out, he was even crying.

"…" Marta's eyes welled with tears, "I-I'm so sorry everyone…"

"It's alright Marta, calm down, go get some water; I'll clean up and start the food over again." Kratos honestly wondered, as he through the bacon and eggs into the fire, how the food could even make the _smoke_ choke you.

………………

It was later that morning, after everyone had eaten their fill of Kratos' breakfast that it happened. At first Kratos had been slightly panicked; Sophie had started shuddering and her body began to glow, it was as Tenebrae had said, she was maturing, changing forms…

Kratos, who, at first, had been reaching out to help her, pulled his hands back; not wanting to interfere.

Sophie's petite body lengthened, she did not seem to be in pain as the transformation took place, in fact she was still standing. She even did a little jump, feeling her body stretch.

When the light had passed Kratos knelt down by his little pet, she made a funny squeaking noise; _"Kratos, Kratos, look!"_

"Yes, I see."

"Oh my Goddess, she is so cute!" Kratos almost flinched at the Goddess comment.

"Y-yeah… congratulations."

Kratos could not help it; he felt a welling of fatherly pride, like when Lloyd had said his first word, or much later when he mastered Kratos' more difficult training. And suddenly, he felt terrible; there, amongst his friends, it was easy not to worry about his son, but the harsh reality of the situation was that Lloyd was in danger, and everything he was doing here was to save his son.

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**Hope you don't mind the slightly shorter chapter. From this, I think you can tell who **_**my**_** favorite monsters are. Next time, they're off to Asgard! The city of wind, ruins, Katz, and… Yuan?**

**Sorry, I feel horribly corny right about now…**

**Oh, and as for the "YOU NEED KATZ TO EVOLVE MONSTERS!!!" people who are going to flame me or something like that, please note, the only reason that your monsters can only evolve with the Katz is because, for some reason or another, you can only cook there. You really think that's true in general?**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	12. In Which Things Get Stranger

…

**This chapter has a bit of lightheartedness, Yuan, oh so much drunken Yuan, etc.**

**I'm going to dement the Yuan scene; I need it for plot development. I hope you find Yuan's antics as amusing as my friends and I do… And the liver joke it technically my friend/beta's if you want to know more, read her story "Drunken Yuan" but she gave me permission to use her joke, call it advertising. **

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshi does not own any part of Tales of Symphonia or its sequel.**

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Emil, Kratos, Marta, Tenebrae, and the monsters had reached the crest of yet another hill on the plain that stretched between Luin and Asgard; the view was fantastic: the grey sky looked like cotton brushing against the sweeping hills and moors. A break in the clouds allowed the sun to shine upon the world, the frosted plain glittered lighting all of the frozen, dead grass. It had been misty earlier that morning and the mist had frozen so that in the sunlight, the heavens seemed to be raining glitter.

"It's so pretty…" murmured Marta.

"Mmm…" Emil nodded in agreement.

Kratos said nothing, he recalled a time when he had gazed upon a similar phenomenon, with Anna. Her name ripped apart his heart; he felt a lump rise in his throat. What had happened to his once perfect life? His love, his child, his friend, all gone. Or so he had thought for fourteen years. But, of course, when he had found them, he had chosen to keep himself a secret, for some reason that he could not now understand, he had thought it would be better to keep them in the dark.

Or rather, keep Lloyd in the dark, Noishe had know him from the instant he had shown his face.

His life had been a long one, full of deceit and lies, however, this had never stopped him in the past, sometimes held him back, which, he realized now, was probably a good thing. Some of the tasks Mithos had set had, at the time, seemed ingenious, now however, he could see he had been at the mercy, and whim, of a madman.

"-ratos, Kratos, Sylvarant to Kratos! Anyone home?" It was Marta, waving her hand franticly in front of his face to get his attention, her nose was inches from his and somewhere in the back of Kratos' mind, he wondered how she was able to reach his height. "Hellooooo!"

"What are you doing?" She leaned back, swaying slightly and he was able to see how she had gained the extra height: she was sitting precariously on Emil's shoulders. Emil, it seemed, had found the awkwardness of the situation, what with the girl on his shoulders, Marta seemed totally oblivious.

"We were wondering if you want to set up camp here, or keep walking, according to Tenebrae we would not get there until really late if we keep walking, so Emil and I think we should set up camp."

Kratos wondered if those were Emil's words or Marta's.

"…It probably would be best if we set up here, that way we can get there early tomorrow."

"Okay!" Marta stuck her fist into the air, upsetting Emil's footing and sending both of them toppling over and rolling down side of the hill. Emil made strange squeaking noises as he tumbled and Marta, slightly more dignified grunts of pain.

"Oh dear," snickered Tenebrae, "this will not end well."

The Centurion was eerily accurate. When the two teens him the ground, Marta was flopped gracelessly on Emil's chest and the pair had so many entangled limbs that Kratos, with _angelic sight_ could not tell whose arm was whose.

"Ahahahaha, good show, good show. Very entertaining!" mocked Tenebrae, "Fantastic! Superb!"

"Shut up Tenebrae!" shouted Marta, who had somehow managed to untangle herself from Emil and was standing with her hands on her hips. She began to charge up the hill; presumably, to chew out the Centurion, however, when she reached the steepest part of the hill, she tripped and tumbled back down, landing heavily on the still-recovering Emil.

"It appears that we will be setting up camp _down there_," said Kratos sarcastically.

………………

The mood around the camp that evening was one of friendly bliss. Sophie and Tut had gotten all of the monsters playing a game of "ghosts in the graveyard", or so they had called it when Kratos was a child: hide-and-go-seek tag in the dark. Even Nero and Isho were skirting around the ring of firelight avoiding Lithos who was charging around snapping at anything that moved.

Idle conversation was the amusement that the humans, "half-elves", and Centurions partook in. Marta was cuddled up to a slightly bruised Emil; it seemed the boy had taken most of the trauma from the fall. Tenebrae was curled up not far from Kratos, who was listening to the monsters' play and adding bit and pieces to the conversation produced by Tenebrae.

"It _has_ been a long time since I have been to Asgard, I believe the last time was during the Kharlan War, and that was four thousand years ago."

"Wow, Tenebrae," said Emil, "you're old…"

"I beg your pardon!? I am many things, mature, elegant, but _old_ is something that I refuse to condone myself to! We Centurions are ageless!"

"So are angels," stated Kratos, "and everyone seems to agree, they are _old."_

"You are siding with them?!"

"No, I am playing devil's advocate." The answer seemed to amuse Marta.

"Oh, really? Okay then Mr. Half-elf, just how old are _you?"_

"Half-elf?" Emil had, apparently not been updated on the latest in-group gossip.

"Yeah, Kratty is a half-elf, I _know_ he's older than he looks, he's got a full-grown son!"

"You have family?"

The conversation had taken a most unwanted turn.

"If you must know, I am…" Kratos searched for an appropriate number, it would have to be high enough, but not too high… "Two hundred and twenty four."

The statement seemed to amuse Tenebrae to no end, "_That_ in mortal teams is old, I am a _Centurion_ we go by much different means of counting."

"Yeah, cat years." Marta burst out laughing and Kratos snickered at Emil's joke.

"That brings about a question I've been wondering about for some time now," said Kratos looking over at Tenebrae. The Centurion seemed suddenly worried, as though Kratos were going to bring up some tabooed subject, "at what rate do monsters mature?"

The darkness incarnate seemed to relax, "Ahh, an interesting question that, most monsters can grow to reach hundreds of years, depending on the species, of course. Creatures like hippogriffs or imps for instance live to four hundred, perhaps five hundred years, if nothing happens to them, while creatures like the wolf or even dodos only grow to the young age of fifty or so years."

"And creatures like Sophie and Eon?"

"The both of them could have a good two, three hundred years to their names, if they are not killed prematurely."

"Wow, monsters sure do have long life-spans…"

"They are festinating creatures, derived from the noble protozoan; they have existed on the planet since before humans…" Tenebrae's rant was interrupted by a playful howl from Tut,

"_Ha! Impy, I gottcha!"_

"_Get off me you stupid Neanderthal!" _

"Play nicely you two." Kratos growled.

"And yet they still manage to be so immature."

"Trust me; protozoans can be just as immature."

.................

The city of wind and ruins, Asgard, had been Kratos and Yuan's hometown, although four thousand years ago, it had gone by a different name. However, not only the name had changed, the once bustling Sylvaranti city had fallen to ruin after the Great War. Stone pathways that had lead to higher caves and homes had crumbled over the ages, and the pit that it had been built around had deepened. However, the great Stone Dias still stood on the hill overlooking the city, the caverns that had been ancient when Kratos was a child still created a gateway to the world of the early elves.

Being here sent strings of memories spiraling though the Seraph's head, how long had it been since he had been there? Two years? More?

Now, Asgard looked like a ghost town, the streets were void of life, signs were broken, as were buildings and all else. The people, they soon learned, were hiding inside their houses or the mural caverns that littered the cave walls. What they were hiding from? The wind.

It had appeared calm when Kratos, Marta, Emil, Tenebrae, and the monsters that he had made invisible had entered the town. Bizarrely, no one had been anywhere; the streets empty, shops nearly all closed, inns shutdown, everything. The wind was a _little_ stronger then Kratos remembered, but this hardly seemed the type of thing to destroy an entire city…

"Come on Emil, keep up! Be a _man_ you can tough it though this wind!"

"Emil, you may find this hard to believe, but Lady Marta is counting on you, at least try to act like a man around her." Tenebrae's statement seemed to be a little harsh, but as a general rule, he agreed. Emil needed to start standing up for himself.

"Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality…" Emil muttered to himself.

"Excuse me?"

"O-oh, sorry Kratos!" squeaked Emil, "I-it's just a mantra of mine…" Emil wondered how Kratos had heard him.

"I see." Kratos walked away.

………………

Walking in the allies of Asgard was an interesting feat, they were used as back exits throughout the town, and seeing as most of the houses were built into the stone, most of the passages were three or four feet in width and had you pressed up against rough stone walls. The group navigated their way through the twisting maze toward the housing complex where the mayor resided. Marta and Emil planned to ask the man if Lloyd had been through here.

Kratos half-wished Lloyd had not been here, if Emil saw him again he would most likely attack.

He glanced up at the sky, expecting to see blue, only to find a daunting mass of black cloud swirling toward them. Kratos did not like the look of it; it could very easily be a winter storm, or worse, the thing that seemed to be destroying the town.

"Wow, look at the sky…" said Emil, "We should find someplace to stay if that's gonna' hit."

"I concur, this looks like it could be a bad storm."

"Mmhmm, Kratos you were probably the one who was here last, do you know where an inn is?"

"There are several inns in this town, I think that most of them are closed however, we could try the inn near to back of the gorge, it may still be open, and it is on our way."

"Okay."

"Sounds good."

As they reached this conclusion, a cold, frozen rain began and with it came wind. They hurried down the alleyway hoping to reach the inn soon.

The inn all that they were focused on, Emil began to be a bit more klutzy, running blindly so as not to let the freezing water hit his eyes once or twice bumbling into the rock wall of the alley. When they finally made their way out into the main street, the cold rain had turned to an icy torrent of half-frozen pellets flying from the sky.

"We need to get out of this!" cried Marta.

"Agreed, keep running, it cannot be much further!"

"I-ugh!" Emil's statement was cut off as he ran into something, or someone, again.

"O-oh, sorry!"

"Come this way," said whomever Emil had just run into. Kratos could not believe his ears; he _knew_ that voice.

They were lead into one of the mural caverns to wait out the storm. Flames from torches attached to the walls lit the enormous room sending the corners into flickering shadow. The delicate murals painted thousands of years before even Kratos was born still glowed in the half-light, the paint still was vibrant against the stone.

Marta and Emil took to squeezing the cold, wet water out of their clothing while thanking the strange man profoundly; "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" trilled Marta, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't helped us!"

"I sorry I ran into you, but thank you very much for leading us here!" said Emil shyly.

"…" Kratos said nothing; he was too busy scrutinizing their "savior" to even dry himself off, a fact that Marta noticed, much to Kratos' displeasure.

"Kratos," she hissed, "Kratos, say _something_, this guy really helped us out!"

"Yeah _Kratos_ no thanks for an old friend?"

"I fear there are more _questions _than_ thanks_, Yuan."

Yuan smirked, although it was not his usual "all knowing" smirk, it was more along the lines of "I know something you don't". This worried Kratos… immensely. He examined his friend as Marta and Emil gasped.

"You two _know _each other?"

"Wow, w-what are the chances of t-that? N-now I'm really, really sorry that I ran into you!"

"Think nothing of it, 'twas nothing!" Yuan was not acting like himself, not to say that Kratos hadn't seen him like this a thousand times before.

"You're drunk."

"That is a debatable fact, my dear Kratos!"

"Oh, really?"

"I would use the term _tipsy_ more that truly _drunk."_ Unfortunately, so would Kratos.

"You have been consuming alcohol," Kratos "harrumphed" as a compromise.

"Point taken, you always were perceptive!"

"We need to get you to an inn before someone gets hurt."

"Oh, no need to worry, my liver is," Yuan patted his stomach, "indestructible!"

"I wasn't referring to you when I said "someone"."

"Oh."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**Anywho, hope this chapter, after much writer's block and rewrites, that it was up to my usual standards.**

**And sorry about the lack of Colette or Alice as of yet, Alice will defiantly appear next chapter, and **_**maybe**_** Colette, I can't be sure though.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	13. In Which Alice Kicks Butt

**Tag.**

**Okay, Kratos' life has been made far too simple again; time to **_**really**_** screw with his head. Alice will be a staring character, and I'll finish up with Yuan-ness for a bit at least. More plotty-ness too unfortunately, I need to get this going.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or its sequel in any way, shape, or form.**

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The icy-rain had stopped and Kratos and the others escorted Yuan back to the inn. Both Marta and Emil were slightly alarmed at the strange blue haired man, Kratos could not blame them; Yuan could be a rather disturbing drunk.

He was always more perceptive intoxicated, a fact that never ceased to amaze Kratos. He was also a very scheming drunk, constantly coming up with some insane plan or another just for his own amusement. Kratos could understand his friend's need for a lift every so often, four thousand years of life, especially the relentless life of an angel, could make any man go insane.

That, and Yuan just really liked the flavor of alcohol.

Kratos kept a steadying hand on his friend's shoulder as the man strutted toward the inn.

"Yuan, I am still trying to understand how you recognize me…"

"You're kinda' hard to miss in that getup."

Kratos sighed, he would get no logical response from the other angel until he was sober, and by Kratos' calculations, that would take an hour or two of rest. Then the hangover would kick in.

They got a room at the inn and Yuan was commanded to _try_ to rest for a while. While he was resting Kratos asked Tut, Nero, Sophie, and Eon to watch him, Kratos had no control over Emil's creatures.

"Come, I imagine you have a lot of questions, but here is not the place to answer them." With that, Kratos lead the way from the room.

"Kratos, who _was_ that guy?"

"That was Yuan, an old friend of mine… he does not control his drinking habits very well."

"I'll say," huffed Marta, "that was _disturbing."_

"You have no idea."

"Kratos," suddenly a very visible Tenebrae had joined in the conversation causing Emil to jump, "is he the same?"

"What?" the question came from both Marta and Emil.

"Yes, they are one and the same."

"Odd, I do not remember him being like that…"

"That is because he wasn't always like that."

"Tenebrae you _know_ that guy?"

"Do not worry yourself Lady Marta, all will be explained in time." And with that cryptic answer, Tenebrae left Kratos to the children's mercy.

"Perhaps we should go try to speak with the mayor while the weather is holding out; we would not want to get caught in another storm."

"But-."

"No, Marta, I think K-Kratos is right. We can ask questions later, right now we should focus…" Kratos was shocked to find that it was Emil who was helping him. He had been under the impression that the child did not like him much. "Kratos, do you know where the mayor lives?"

"Yes," replied Kratos without missing a beat, "shall we? Yuan can rest and we can speak to him when he is back to his usual self."

"_Men,"_ sighed Marta tragically, then she walked out without another word.

Emil smiled shyly at Kratos and the other nodded once, giving him a look of thanks.

……………….

The mayor lived at the top of the housing complex that was built into the shear face of cliff that looked out over Asgard. Some of the houses, like Aisha and Linar's, were built in flat bits of rock while others were just doors in the side of the cliff.

The wealthy lived towards the top of the cliff while the poor remained in small outcroppings of rock much lower. The clouds from the previous storm had cleared, though more dark clouds were on the northern horizon, and the sun shown though lighting up the pale-blue sky.

"Wow, the view is fantastic!" said Marta as they reached the top of yet another staircase.

"Yeah," but Emil was not looking out over the landscape, but at Marta, she turned to him and smiled.

"This town is so romantic, even if it is being blown to bits…"

"It really is pretty."

Marta giggled, "But there is something that's been bugging me," she looked out at the sky again, "I know it's really windy here and all, but I just can't see how a wind this light could destroy so many houses…"

It was true; most of the houses that they had past had had strips of siding or shingles ripped off. A large number of businesses had closed, but the wind did not seem all that strong.

"Hmm, I wonder…"

"M-Marta," Emil cried.

Kratos saw it too; the wind had begun to pick up, bringing with it the billowing black clouds that had, seemingly moments before, been on the far horizon. He and Emil were in no danger, standing in all of their heavy armor, but Marta had no sword or armor to hold her to the ground. The wind picked up, catching her, and pulling her into the sky.

It was as if a hurricane had hit; Kratos and Emil could barely stand, and, although they were in no danger of being carried away, tiny stones and branches the wind carried were a very real threat.

And Marta was being carried away by the wind.

She screamed, her arms flailing. Emil was in action before the danger had even registered in his mind, running after her and grasping her wildly moving hands. Kratos was just a moment behind him; grabbing the slight child around the stomach to stop him from being blown away as well.

Kratos slowly backed them to the overhanging created by the stone; Marta lost altitude quickly and landed half on her feet and half in Emil's arms. Both children blushed but Marta took no pain to straighten herself; obviously enjoying the closeness.

"T-thank you for saving me Emil!" Kratos made no mention that he had done anything.

"Y-yeah…no problem." Emil was still blushing at his heroics.

"I don't mean to ruin the party, but shouldn't you be getting _out_ of the wind?" Tenebrae appeared out of nowhere. "There is an empty cave back near the merchant cliffs, but it is a bit of a jaunt, you should move. Now."

"R-right, let's go."

"Wait, wouldn't it be safer if we hold hands? S-so I don't blow away again."

"…" Marta held Emil's hand as they headed toward the cave. Kratos rested his hand on the shoulder of both children, the physical contact more comfortable than if he had just let them walk.

The cave that Tenebrae led them to was one of a series known as the "Mural Caverns". Inside were pre-Kharlan War murals created by the early Balacruf people, many of them depicting the Wind Master and Cleo III who sealed it away.

Emil and Marta were talking softly to each other, so Kratos wandered to the other side of the cave so as to give them some privacy.

"You did not strike me as an art-buff Mr. Aurion."

"Amusing Tenebrae," said Kratos as he pretended to look at a bit that he had seen a hundred times before, one nice thing about being immortal, you had _a lot_ of time to peruse interests. "I am simply giving them some space."

"Yes, yes, I know. Do you really approve?"

"Anyone who can stand Marta _must_ be her true love."

"Ha ha, art-buff and jokester, who knew?"

"On a slightly more serious note, would Ratatosk approve of his _Knight_ and this girl?"

"I don't see the problem… let them be. I believe the wind has stopped, and I hear voices outside."

Kratos heard it too; there was some sort of commotion outside.

While Tenebrae went to separate the love-struck teens, Kratos peered out from the cave to see the source of the commotion on a ledge down from the one their cave rested on. It was a rather bizarre sight: there was a blond woman whose features were strangely young and childish, but from the look of those around her, she was terrifying them. A long whip-like rapier bounced up and down against her hand. Hawk knelt before her, shaking with fear. Around them several Vanguard members stood at attention.

"Damn, it's Alice!"

"Who?" the question came from both Kratos and Emil.

"She is the leader of the Combat Unit in the Vanguard," hissed Tenebrae.

"We have to hide!"

She pulled them over to a slanted bit of rock to look down and spy on the gathering. They were all pressed against the rock, Kratos felt like an idiot.

"I'm _so_ disappointed that you still haven't found Colettie, poo! Alice is so tired." Alice's voice too held the air of a spoiled child.

To Kratos' horror, one of the Vanguard knelt on all fours and the women sat on his back, crossing her legs in an intimidating fashion but tilting her head to the side mock-cutely.

"Ma'am , if you would just be a little more patient-." It was Hawk speaking as he knelt before her, but before he could finish his sentence he was swatted to the side, the girl's rapier flashed dangerously.

And then her whole person seemed to change, she beamed at the cowering man before her, "Now, now, I just said I was tired, besides, you should know better than to-." And her face changed again, her eyes narrowed and her mouth twisted into a blood-thirsty sneer.

"Talk…" She slammed her blade across Hawk's face.

"Back…" Again she hit.

"To…" Smack.

"ME!"

Hawk fell back with a whimper, blood trickling down from new scars that riddled his face. Kratos was horrified, what kind of monster was this girl?

"No wonder you let Mart-mart slip through our fingers and failed so spectacularly in Luin, must I do everything myself?" Alice stood and advanced toward the broken, cowering man, sliding the tip of her long weapon under his chin and forcing her to look up into her cold, but smiling, eyes. "Hawkie, are you listening to me?"

"I-I apologize." She pushed his face away, as if disgusted by the mere sight of him, then she walked away, the men around her bowing.

"Hurry and find that pesky Colettie. I'll be at the Mayor's house, ta-ta."

Jerkily, Hawk rose to face his warriors, "I'll see to the city's perimeters, you do a thorough sweep of the city. The Chosen of Regeneration is a woman with blonde hair; bring anyone who fits that description. And do it quickly, or Lady Alice will have all of our heads, now go!"

"For the liberation of Sylvarant!" The men dispersed into the city.

………………

Kratos, Marta, Emil, and Tenebrae were heading back to the inn, unable to go to the Mayor's house they were going to check on Yuan and then try to find Colette. Kratos was nervous; Alice seemed to be ruthless, ready to destroy anyone who got in her way.

"So, that girl is a member to the Vanguard too?" Emil was questioning Marta on what they had just witnessed. This kind of think was not new to Kratos, he had worked with Desians for most of his life, but Emil, it seemed, had been sheltered. No, Kratos corrected himself, he had probably not experienced them, if Ratatosk had created him… but that still begged the question as to how the child had an aunt and uncle to which he could go. Unless Ratatosk had created an entire family, which seemed unlikely, he would have to question Tenebrae later.

"Yes, like Tenebrae said, she's the caption of their Combat Unit. She's a complete sadist, be careful around her."

"Sadist?"

"She enjoys causing physical and mental pain in her prey." Kratos filled in for Emil.

"Okay, that is just a little bit scary…"

"Just stay away from her, don't talk to her, don't look her in the eye… and promise to love only me! Then you'll be alright."

Emil seemed to be questioning that.

"So, let me get this straight," said Emil, quickly changing the subject, "Colette is the Chosen of Regeneration, so that means she traveled with Lloyd, right?"

"Yes, that is correct," Kratos answered Emil.

"Yeah, if we can't find Lloyd, maybe we can ask about him, and maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"It's nothing, never mind, anyway let's get going; we don't want to get caught by the Vanguard."

"R-right."

Kratos walked silently, Colette… he wondered if the blonde Chosen would remember him. Yuan did, did that mean that she would too? Then what did that mean about Lloyd? Did his son know it was he, or was he totally ignorant? The questions spun in his mind, the only way, he thought, was to find Colette.

They reached the inn where they had left Yuan and ascended the flight of stairs toward their rooms. Kratos heard strange hisses and thumps coming from inside.

"_Move, you!"_ It sounded as though Yuan was having problems with the monsters.

"Yuan?" Kratos opened the door.

"And just who the Hell are you?"

"…Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"You don't know who I am?"

"…Should I?"

Emil and Marta both exchanged a look behind Kratos' back, Yuan, however, caught it.

"Kratos, should we be concerned?" Marta looked worried.

"Look," Yuan sighed, "I do believe some thanks are in order, I am not usually this bad with my drinking-," Kratos snorted, "-however, whatever I said or did intoxicated was simply the tequila talking. Now, if you will _excuse_ me…" Yuan tried to navigate his way around the three people blocking his way, Kratos, however, seemed to be sick of everything.

"You are not damn well going _anywhere_ Yuan until you tell me what the hell is going on here!" Kratos roared.

"I don't believe I know what you are talking about."

"An _hour_ ago you knew exactly who I was, and now all of a sudden you don't? What the _hell_ is that about?"

"I repeat, whatever problems you seem to be having are not mine to deal with. Now _move."_ Lightning crackled in one of Yuan's hand. Kratos was ready to take all the zapping Yuan could dish out, but he felt two sets of arms pulling him back, he glanced around to see Marta and Emil tugging at his arms to move him from Yuan's path.

"_Kratos,"_ grunted Marta, "It's not worth it, come on, just let him go!"

"Smart girl." Yuan slipped past them, into the hall.

He was gone, Kratos' only chance of getting any information had just walked out the door, and he had let it.

"Why did you do that?" Kratos hissed at the two children.

"Kratos, I don't know what was going on, but he was going to hurt you, it's not worth you getting hurt just to talk to him. Besides, what kind of friend does that to you?"

"Yuan."

"He'd done something like this before?" Emil looked horrified.

"Not _this_ per say, but something similar…" Kratos' mind flashed back to Altessa's home when Yuan had attempted to force Kratos' to release Origen's seal by threatening Lloyd. Between the two of them, someone _always_ got hurt.

"I still don't get how he didn't recognize you though, I mean, he knew you pretty well just a few hours ago…"

"I give up," murmured Kratos, collapsing onto the bed. Sophie, who had been hiding behind a chair while Yuan was in the room, crawled onto the bed beside him and hugged him.

"_I'm sorry Master Kratos, is you gonna' be okay?"_

"I cannot believe I just let my only chance at information slip through my fingers… Damnit! Let's just go find Colette!"

"A-are you sure? I mean, we could wait for you to cool down just a little-."

"No, if the Vanguard locates her first, she's dead, if anything happens to her…" Kratos shook his head in disgust, "Sophie, Nero, Tut, Eon, let's go!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**Anyone have a headache yet? Poor oblivious children, they have no idea why Kratos is all "grrr" at their butts. I'm so freaking **_**mean.**_** Well, whatever.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	14. In Which Colette Saves Everyone

**Chapter fourteen, GASP!!!**

**Enter Colette! I don't know how Colette will turn out, I don't write her normally, hopefully I don't totally bomb the character. It's so easy to make her completely dense, but it's more that she's just totally innocent. **

**Oh, and I would like to ramble for just a few moments about a few questions I got in my reviews; **

**-Yuan is the ONLY person who will remember Kratos when he is drunk. Making Colette "tipsy" will do nothing.**

**-NO ONE (besides Yuan when he is drunk) will remember Kratos. Tenebrae only did AFTER Kratos told him who he was. Lloyd won't listen so it won't make a difference.**

**-Finally, I do not hate Marta and Emil, just Marta. Emil will get better, actually, in a few chapters there will be some bonding again, so enjoy it.**

**That's all, sorry for the time wast.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own, despite how much I want it, Tales of Symphonia **_**or**_** Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.**

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Finding Colette proved slightly more difficult than Kratos had first assumed; if it had been him on his own, he would have gone straight to Aisha's house, whom else in Asgard did she know well enough to be talking to? However, thanks to the fact that if Kratos started knowing too much about the Regeneration Journey, _something_ was going to come out. Something that Tenebrae would not want the two children knowing. Therefore, they were forced to search Asgard top to bottom, it drove Kratos insane.

"She's got to be here somewhere!" groaned Marta, "The Vanguard has been chasing her around the world; they couldn't have just _lost_ her! If she were here, they'd know."

Kratos wondering if this were true, Colette was an angel, this being true, she could easily have flown off from the top of one of the housing complexes and disappeared without the Vanguard knowing anything. Kratos glanced toward the sky and realized this was impossible; there was no way that anyone, let alone the slight Chosen.

"Are you sure Marta?" Emil did not meet Marta's eye, she had been acting very strange since they had decided to find Colette.

Then, Kratos had a stroke of genius, "I do recall reading that she has friends here, I do believe I know where they live…"

"Oh! Let's try there then, after all, that's the only lead we've got!"

Kratos was suddenly leading the way toward Aisha and Linear's house. Even if it was the first place Kratos would have looked, he still was unsure if she would really be there.

When they reached the house, Kratos heard voices drifting through an open window.

"Do you hear that?" said Marta, "She's here!"

"Great job, Kratos!"

Marta walked forward and resolutely knocked on the door, Kratos noticed that the girl seemed to just be withholding fury.

"O-one moment please." Kratos recognized Aisha's voice. Then he heard the sound of someone hurrying across the room, a muffled thump and "oops" from inside. Yes, Colette was in there.

"Come in," the door was opened by a smiling women, her blue hair cascaded down her shoulders, and she seemed totally at ease, but her eyes portrayed a nervous worry that danced behind the calm, friendly façade.

"Can I help you?"

"We're looking for the Chosen, Colette." Kratos mentally sighed; Marta was being very blunt today.

"I-I'm so sorry, but she's not here, actually, I heard she left Asgard this morning, she was heading toward Luin, or, that's what I heard…"

"Don't lie!" hissed Marta, "We _know_ she's here! And I-."

"Marta, stop!" Kratos put a hand on the girl's shoulder and Emil shyly took her hand. "Ms. Aisha, please, we have information regarding the Chosen's safety, the Vanguard knows she is here and are searching for her, please we ask that you allow us to speak to her."

Aisha eyed them and seemed about to send them away when Colette's voice echoed from inside; "No, Aisha, let them in, please?"

"I-…If you think it is for the best Chosen," quietly Aisha moved aside and allowed them to enter.

The house was just as Kratos remembered it, Colette stood next to the table in the middle of the room; she looked her normal cheery self. Her white robes still had the same blue and silver trim, her leggings the same blue and her boots as spotless white as always. Her hair had lengthened though, and her eyes were much less innocent than Kratos remembered them.

"Hello," she beamed at them, "how can I help you? You said you have information for me…?"

"Yes Chosen, we-." But Kratos was cut off by Marta, tears were in her eyes.

"Chosen, two years ago, a giant, monstrous tree attacked Palmacosta. Hundreds died and the entire town was destroyed-."

Colette's eyes widened and Kratos flinched. So _this_ was why Marta had been acting so strange, she wanted to confront Colette. The blond Chosen would never admit that the Kharlan Tree attacking Palmacosta _was not_ her fault. She had been convinced that it was her fault, and it was not in Colette's nature to put the blame on anyone else.

If it was anyone's fault that Palmacosta had been destroyed, it was his fault. His and Yuan's fault. If Yuan would not have stopped him from explaining things to Lloyd, this would not have happened. And now there were still people who were convinced that it was the Chosen's fault for shirking her duties. The Chosen herself believed this lie.

"-my _mother_ was one of those people. I heard that this happened because the Chosen abandoned the World Regeneration. Is it true?" By the end of her speech, Marta was seething. Tears glittered in her eyes and her hands were balled into fists.

"Y-yes, but please, let me explain-." Marta rushed forward and shoved Colette into the far wall. The blond Chosen fell against in with a soft thud and collapsed onto the ground.

"Marta-!" Emil pulled her away while Kratos hurried over to Colette and pulled her to her feet, muttering a soft apology on Marta's part. The door slamming caused him to look up, Emil was standing in the doorway, apparently Marta had run out, and when Emil tried to follow, she slammed the door in his face.

"Emil, would you go find Marta and calm her down? It is unsafe for her to be wandering around on her own with the Vanguard searching all over town."

"R-right." Emil ran out the door and Kratos felt Tenebrae go with them.

"Chosen," Kratos turned his attention back to Colette, who looked near tears. "I am very sorry; I had no idea that these were Marta's intentions."

"N-no, it's true, I am to blame for everything… If I hadn't run out on the World Regeneration, none of this would have happened."

"I seem to recall that you were soulless when you were taken to Tethe'alla, I think that constitutes as being kidnapped."

Colette's head snapped up to meet Kratos' eyes, her own widened and she examined him closely.

"D-do I know you?" she whispered, "You seem familiar."

"…" Kratos shrugged, "My name is Kratos Aurion, I am a traveling mercenary. I'm not sure how the Chosen would know me…"

He heard Aisha gasp behind him, she obviously remembered the name, although the person was still unknown.

Colette giggled a bit, "You sound just like a friend of mine, but he left a long time ago, you couldn't be him… Oh, I'm sorry, I'm being rude. My name is Colette Brunel. It's nice to meet you Kratos."

"A pleasure."

"You sound just like him! Oh, but we should go after Marta and… Emil, is that his name? I have to apologize!"

Colette walked quickly over to the door, Kratos following close behind, he turned back to Aisha, "My apologies for taking your houseguest, we should be back shortly." Then he slipped out behind Colette.

As they walked she chattered about how she had come to Asgard looking for Lloyd, and then found it like this and she just could not leave it while the people were being tormented by the winds.

Once outside the two surveyed down the housing cliff looking for Marta and Emil. As the wind picked up again, Kratos grabbed Colette's upper arm to stop her from flying away as Marta almost had. She smiled and thanked him for his help. Suddenly, her body tensed up and she closed her eyes listening. Focusing, Kratos heard it too: it was the sound of a child screaming, screaming and the shouts of Marta and Emil.

At the same moment, Kratos still clutching Colette's arm, they raced downward to find their missing friends. As the winds died down, Colette separated herself from Kratos' grip and pulled out her wings. Already in the air, she called down to Kratos, "I'll search by air."

Kratos nodded once before continuing his own search on foot, he wished Tenebrae had not taken his monsters, but they had needed to stay under his spell of invisibility. Almost on ground level, he skipped the last few steps and his angelic strength kicked in, sending him flying down the path. He was almost back to where they had seen Alice when he heard voices; Colette, Marta, Tenebrae, and… the sadist.

He slowed and slipped around the side of one of the large, decorated support pillars.

"Ohh, I'm so lucky! Mart-mart _and _Colettie, I'm so happy!" Kratos shuddered at the sound of Alice's ringing voice echoing across the windy gorge. "I'll be sure to tell Commander Brute that you're _dead_ Mart-mart."

"L-lady Alice, we have orders to bring Lady Marta back alive!"

"Just shut-up and _get them_, Hawkie! Athos, Pothos, you help too!"

"No, stop!" That was Colette, "I won't let you hurt them!"

It seemed that it was time for Kratos to intervene.

Talk about divine intervention.

"Nor will I," Kratos hissed as he stepped out from behind the pillar, some yards from the battle.

"And who might you be?" Alice was smirking widely, standing on a high platform, "I do not believe we've met before."

"…" Kratos mentally sighed, he hated having to introduce himself, and this was the third time that _day._ "Kratos Aurion, I believe you are attempting to murder my charges, not to mention the Chosen, and I do not think that her grandmother will be too happy to find her dead." Protecting the Chosen was too hardwired into his brain to let Colette stand there and be killed.

"Well, well, Kratie-kins is it?"

Oh on, gods no.

"_Kratos,"_ he hissed between his teeth.

"No, I think Krattie-kins fits you much, much better."

Kratos did not respond, but charged at them, unwilling to sacrifice his dignity to fight with the bizarre woman. As soon as she saw him moving, Alice sent Hawk and her pet monsters into battle as well. Kratos went for Hawk, but Colette got their first, she motioned for him to go get Alice. Kratos nodded and quite nearly flew to the second platform where Alice was standing watching the whole exchange from a higher vantage point.

"Oh, scary, but I really don't want to hurt such a pretty face." Kratos paid on attention to the woman's words but lashed out with his sword. She leapt back lightly, undaunted by him. Behind the sadist he saw Nero float up, she was waiting for Kratos to push the woman further, then Nero would attack. Kratos swung his foot around, nearly colliding it with her midriff, but she once again evaded the attack.

Lunging forward she tried to get a slice at his face, but he brought his sword up, slicing the rapier in two. Alice shrieked in fury and sent a blast of frozen ice mana at him. Kratos side-stepped and slipped his sword under her neck. Nero floated forward and, with an impish smirk, began bombarding a now screaming Alice with dark mana attacks.

Kratos then turned his attention back down to where Marta, Emil, Colette, and five of the monsters seemed to be overcoming Hawk, Athos, and Porthos. Help, he decided, would still be appreciated. He took a running leap and landed gracefully in the midst of the battle, charging at the squirrel-like Porthos. It let out an angry squeak and lashed out at him with sharp claws, he blocked it with his shield and sent the strange monster flying with his sword.

On the other side of their little battlefield Emil and Marta finished off Hawk and Colette cut down Athos.

"Ugh, you're horrible, I _hate _you!" screamed Alice, "Hawkie, let's get out of here. See you around Mart-mart, Collettie, Krattie-kins, oh, and Mart-mart's little _pet."_

Then, Alice whistled once, short and loud, and jumped backwards off the platform she was standing on, Nero hissed loudly. Marta ran forward, arm outstretched as if she could catch the falling woman. However, there was no need for her concern; a large, bulbous monster caught her. She slipped onto it's back, riding sidesaddle and smirking.

"Ta-ta, ladies and gentlemen!"

………………

"I-…" Marta did not seem to want to look at Colette.

"You don't' have to say anything, but even if you hate me, I couldn't let you get hurt… I'm very sorry." Colette did not wait for Marta's response, but headed back the way they came.

"Why did she save me?"

"…Marta…" Emil looked tired, Hawk had done a job on both of the children, and Kratos had a feeling that Colette wouldn't be leaving town any time soon. They could afford a night at the inn.

"Let's return to the inn, Colette is probably trying to find a way to stop the winds, she'll be in town for a while. In the mean time, the two of you look like you could rest."

"Thanks Kratos," said Emil, he carefully took Marta's hand and walked her back toward the inn.

"_Long day?"_ Tut's voice came from behind him.

"You have no idea."

………………

The Mayor's house still managed to stand atop the housing cliff, even after all that wind. That morning, when Kratos, Marta, and Emil had returned to Aisha's house, they had been directed, by Harley of all people, up the cliff to see the Mayor. Therefore, they had trekked, once again, up the cliff.

"Oh, hello, can I help you?" the Mayor of Asgard seemed to be one of the few political leaders that Kratos could get along with.

"Hi, we're looking for the Chosen of Regeneration…" Marta hung her head as Emil did the talking today. Kratos was impressed at how the once utterly timid child was now taking control. He supposed it had a lot to do with being away from his aunt and uncle.

"What do you think dear? Do you know them?" The Mayor looked behind him and talked to someone, Colette.

"Marta, Emil, Kratos! What are you doing here?"

"I-I needed to thank you for saving me…" Marta met Colette's eye, "So, thank you for saving me Chosen."

"Oh, I'm so happy! Marta, I really am sorry about your mother, but I'm so happy that we can be friends now!"

"I can _never_ be your friend, but… if you're going to be doing something about the winds, then let us help. We owe you."

"Oh, well, I'll gladly accept your help. Marta, Emil, Kratos, nice to have you on the team!"

Kratos had a feeling this was going to be interesting.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**My chapters are getting to be too short for what I need to get done… Crap, I'll have to speed up what's happening. Ah, well.**

**Shorter chapter, it happens. Just as many words though, if you care. I'm probably going to start trying to ram more into one. Let's see if I can't get through the next part of Asgard in one or two parts.**

**R&R!**

**~Yoshi**


	15. In Which There is Too Much Running

**This chapter is going to be relatively vague because I really want to get them through Asgard. Moreover, there really isn't that much dialogue among the characters, just a lot of dungeons, etc. So I'm gonna' skim over quite a bit. Hope it doesn't destroy the fic. I just know that I went waaaaaaaaaay to long on the intro and I don't want to suffer through that again. It also helps that there isn't so much plottiness going on.**

**Oh, by the way, my writing "voice" seems to be off just a smidgen today, so if **_**I**_** sound OOC… sorry. And, another thing, I'm throwing the timeline off a bit, but you're still gonna' get all of your favorites from Asgard in the next few pages. I just need it to all work together into a slightly better flowing dialogue. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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The stone dais; an enormous stone platform with ruins from pre-Kharlan War history engraved onto its surface. Statues stood in the four corners pointing in the different directions to signify the four winds, north, east, south, west, and the four cities of the Balacruf people. The other cities were no longer standing, other than the Balacruf Mausoleum, and the city that had once been built around it had been destroyed somewhere during the war. Now, there were not even ruins left to say that there had once been a city there.

That was, of course, if Kratos remembered correctly.

Kratos, Emil, Marta, Colette, the monsters, and Tenebrae, although Colette did not know of the existence of the latter, were going to check on the dais. Colette believed that the winds were related to the dais somehow.

Explaining to Colette as to how exactly the group had been formed had involved a lot of awkward explanations and fudging of the truth. Ratatosk, Lloyd, Kratos' own existence, the monsters, and several other things that Kratos did not want to think about was explained to the blond Chosen of Regeneration.

Lloyd had been a tough topic to get through, Marta had carried that conversation because both Kratos and Colette seemed unable to pin _anything_ on the hero of the worlds, and Emil went all broody at the mention of Lloyd.

All in all the group, with the exception of knowledge on Tenebrae, which the three of them had decided to keep quiet about, was on the same page.

"Alright," said Colette determinedly, "we'll worry about Lloyd after we save Asgard."

Yes, that really did sound like Colette.

"A-alright, if that works for you…" Marta seemed to be gaining more and more respect for the elder girl.

"Shall we?" Colette led the way to the dais, seeing as Kratos was not supposed to know this type of thing and Marta and Emil honestly _did not_ know.

………………

Standing on top of the Stone Dais sent a wave of déjà-vu through Kratos. He half expected Raine to pop out and start lecturing them on Cleo III and the Sylph. They examined the stone from top to bottom, Kratos took the back and saw the broken bit of stone that Linear had created several years before, when he had released the Windmaster, a huge monster that the Chosen's group had slain on their last visit to Asgard.

He remembered Lloyd deactivating the bomb that Professor Sage had set off, and Noishe causing panic as he ran up and down the stairs, everyone convinced that some _other_ beast had broken out of the dais, the Maiden dance preformed by Raine.

Now he returned with only one of his old friends, if you could really consider Colette a friend. He had put her life in danger for Martel dozens of times….

Nothing out of the ordinary was found, and Colette decided that the actual top of the platform could be the cause. Standing atop the platform made one feel like one was the king of the world, you could see for miles. Even Kratos, though he showed none of it, felt exhilarated up here.

"I don't see anything," muttered Marta, "maybe you were wrong and the winds aren't connected to the dais…"

"Yes, perhaps you're right. Or, maybe we need to do the Maiden Ritual, one of my friends did that the last time we were here and that brought the Windmaster out…"

Suddenly the wind began to pick up again, a long, low screech cut through to cold winter air.

"W-whoa!" Colette went crashing to the ground, pulling Marta with her, as a giant bird swooped down on them.

Kratos' sword was in his hand instantly as he and Emil turned to face the creature that had attacked them. A great black bird, its head at least five feet above Kratos' head and its talons the size of his sword, and just as sharp, leered back at them with great sickly yellow eyes. Its sharp beak opened wide, it screeched at them, turning on a dime, it soared back at Emil.

Emil's eyes were glowing red again and he hissed at the bird, trying to slam his blade into its side, but he met with some resistance. The blade of his sword bounced off the bird's feathers back at Emil who took a second to reposition himself before attacking again.

Kratos joined the fray and he heard the sound of Colette and Marta chanting their collective spells. Lithos and Tut snapped from the ground, serving as a sufficient distraction, while somewhere in the background Kratos heard Sophie and Nero chanting as well.

A dark mana spell, bloody howling, slammed the bird to the ground, but did little more. Nero screamed in frustration as the creature picked itself up again.

"Damn it, what does it take with this thing?!" shouted Emil.

"I don't think we are even wearing it down!" Kratos hissed in reply as he neatly dodged the bird's oncoming beak.

"Well, what should we do-?" The creature shrieked again and seemed to grow weary of the resistance, no meal seemed to be worth this trouble. The winds picked up and sent the two humans and angels spinning down the stairs leading to the Dais.

Kratos was the first one on his feet, quickly taking Colette's hand and pulling her up as well, Emil helped Marta.

"C-Colette, you saved my life."

"Oh, no, really, it was nothing, I really just tripped…"

"W-what was that thing?" Emil stuttered, back to his usual self, "Our attacks didn't do a thing!"

"I don't know," admitted Colette, "I've never seen anything like it before. Maybe you should ask your Summon Spirit."

"Summon Spirit?" Marta looked at Colette oddly, "What do you mean?"

"Well, at least I _think_ he's a Summon Spirit. Or is he not yours?"

"…" Marta and Emil both exchanged confused looks.

"…" Kratos sighed, "I believe she is referring to Tenebrae."

"My goodness, me?" Tenebrae ghosted into being behind Kratos, "Very good my dear, I'm impressed you noticed me."

Colette smiled broadly, "I have some experience with these things."

"Tenebrae," cut in Marta, "_do_ you know what that thing was?"

"I do believe it is called a Garuda, a bird-type monster that had a protective mana shield that can only be broken by the winged dragon."

"Oh, great!" grumbled Marta, "Where are we gonna' get a winged dragon?"

"I know someone who might be able to help us, he lives in Hima."

"A dragon tamer?"

"Right."

"So we have to go to Hima?" asked Kratos, dreading the long walk up and down the continent.

"Yup!"

"Fantastic."

Emil's words seemed to be exactly what Kratos was thinking.

………………

It took the growing group a week to reach Hima; Kratos had insisted that they return to Luin to restock on supplies. Marta and Colette had both been in agreement, but Emil had stayed outside the village with the monsters. Kratos had not blamed him; actually, he had left the girls at the inn to go out and speak to the young Knight. They hadn't spoken much with Marta around constantly keeping the attention on her.

Besides, Tenebrae would watch the girls.

"Emil."

"K-Kratos, what are you doing here?" Emil was sitting in front of a little fire he had built for himself and the six little creatures that snuggled around him.

"I could not sleep and thought you could probably use some company, so you'll have to make do with me."

"Was… that a joke?"

"Unfortunately."

Emil burst into peals of real laughter, and patted the ground next to him; indicating Kratos to sit next to him. Kratos settled down and Sophie ran over plopping herself on his lap, the others gathering around him as well.

"…" Emil watched the monsters settle down around the elder man with a look of badly hidden jealousy. "How do you get them to do that?" he demanded.

"I haven't asked them to do anything. They choose to do this."

"…Oh, than what am I doing wrong? I can't even understand them yet, and I've know them as long as you'd know yours when you started understanding them."

"I do not understand the specifics of it, but I doubt that it will be much longer until you will understand them. I had more monsters under my control as well."

"_Nah, you're just better than him!"_ snickered Nero.

"Be polite." Kratos scolded her.

"_Ya' know, I agree with Impy for once."_

"_See, even the dog agrees with me!"_

"_Master Kratos, I think you're awesome!"_ Sophie trilled from his lap.

"I may be able to understand your language, but I do not thing I will ever understand what you are talking about."

Emil gave Kratos a very long, rather disturbed look.

………………

Hima was far from what Kratos had expected. From a mile away, he could sense something about the town was off, he could see the monsters bristling and whispering among each other, but he had still been taken by surprise when they had entered only to find it over run by monsters. Bears, wolves, zombies, and hundreds of other monsters attacking the stray travelers and, if there was none of the former, each other.

"W-what the heck happened here?" gasped Emil.

"This was defiantly _not_ the way it was like when I came here with daddy," whisper Marta.

"There are monsters everywhere!"

"Yes, I would presume," said Tenebrae, addressing the fears of Marta and Emil, "that they are being led here by a demonic presence. Actually, I can feel it."

"W-what should we do?" asked Emil, seeming terrified of the answer.

"I am afraid there is not much that _can_ be done, the best way would be to find the source of the demon, however, seeing as Asgard needs us; it would be best if we stayed focused."

"Oh, good, I thought you were going to say that we would have to get rid of them."

"Well, we _could_ if you wanted…"

"_Tenebrae!"_

Colette had yet to say anything, and when Kratos glanced back at her, he saw why; she seemed to be having second thoughts on returning to the city, and Kratos could guess as to why. This was the place where he had turned her over to Cruxis, the last city she had come to before she had "abandoned" Sylvarant.

"Colette, are you alright?" he murmured.

"Y-yeah, I just don't much like this city. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be thinking about myself, not when Asgard is in trouble."

"Don't apologize; we can get in and out of this city as quickly as possible. Where is the dragon tamer?"

Colette motioned toward the side of the mountain, a path lead from behind the inn up to the top of the cliff. The same cliff where Kratos had taken her to the Tower of Salvation. He shivered, almost unnoticeably, from guilt.

So much had happened that he could not control, but he still felt relentless guilt at what he had let this girl, a child in all rights, go through. All his fault.

Up the mountain they climbed, Emil in front, Kratos behind, keeping the two females safe from oncoming monsters. Colette seemed to get paler and paler every step they took closer to the top. She would not bolt, Kratos knew this, but he hoped she would not faint going up.

When they reached the top, all persons still more or less mentally intact, they found, not the dragon tamer they had been hoping to meet, but a very large imp-like creature. A Skirophorion, Kratos vaguely recalled.

The battle that ensued was short and easily won by the humanoids. The creature fell at Emil's bloodthirsty sword.

"But, where are the dragons?" asked Marta, "I hope the dragon tamer isn't gone or…" she did not finish the sentence.

"Yeah, I… wait, I hear something." Kratos heard it too. The sound of wings, soft gliding wings.

"What, I don't hear anything," said Emil.

"Me neither…" whispered Marta.

It spiraled down from the sky, a white feather brought by the winds. And with it, the beast that it had come from. A soft moaning bellow emanated from its vocal cords. Tenebrae appeared without summoning.

"I'll translate, it says thank you for avenging him."

"Him? Oh no, is the dragon man dead?" cried Colette.

"No, it appears that the tamer was able to get away safely. The dragon is referring to her father who was killed by the creature you just slay."

"W-would it help us with the Garuda problem?" Emil was watching the creature with wide, rather scared eyes.

"…Yes, from the sound of it, I believe that it will repay you."

"Oh, perfect!" Colette had, for the moment it seemed, gotten over her fear of the little town.

………………

They had decided to stay at the Hima inn for the night, although Colette and Kratos had both been in agreement that they should just leave, Marta and Emil had wanted to rest a night before walking a week in the opposite direction. Kratos could not begrudge them that.

The only problem, sleep seemed to elude Kratos that night. He pulled on his shirt and slipped from the room he shared with Emil. Kratos emerged from his room to see that downstairs Colette and Tenebrae were speaking quietly.

"Ah, Kratos," said Tenebrae softly, "were you unable to sleep as well?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"…" Colette eyed Kratos again, she had been doing so, none to subtly he might add, for the past few days. "Kratos, pardon me for saying this, but you remind me of a friend of mine."

"I see." Kratos said nothing else. It was too much of a habit for him to keep his personal information to himself. Marta and Tenebrae finding out about Lloyd had been a mistake. He still could not believe that he had said anything. Post-traumatic stress or, perhaps, he was just more honest than he like to admit.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just… they way you talk, the way you act around people, you're a mercenary, you cook, you're good with a sword…everything!" Colette did not meet his eyes. "He was a very good friend to the Chosen's group, we couldn't have saved the world without him, but he… was killed in the final battle with the Desians to save to world. He shielded Lloyd." She gulped, her eyes welling up with tears, but Kratos could tell that it was the lies that were making her sad, not that he had died. No, that Kratos her friend had died.

"You even have the exact same name as him, Kratos Aurion, I'm sorry, but being back in this city with any Kratos, especially one that is so much like him, well, it feels really sad for me." She smiled suddenly, "I'm sorry, I know you're not him. You couldn't be. Sorry."

Kratos felt the pit of his stomach drop, was this going to be the rest of his life?

………………

Another week had gone by before they returned to Asgard; their travels across the continent had been anything but eventful. Perhaps they were lucky though, what with the Vanguard after them, monsters and strange weather ravaging the world, it was honestly _nice_ to have a normal winter in the area. Upon entering the city, the first thing that they did was to find Aisha and Linear. This time, however, Harley was with them as well.

"Hey Chosen, long time, no see!"

"Harley, how are you?"

"Fantastic, 'cept for those freaky winds."

Marta and Emil both exchanged a worried look, a half-elf? Kratos had assumed that Marta had gotten over her phobia, but he had apparently assumption was incorrect. As for Emil, Kratos had no idea how he would react to Half-elves, after the truth about Emil's parents' fates, they had withheld Kratos' story and, therefore, connections with Lloyd. They had yet to see Lloyd again so the situation that they feared had yet to happen.

Marta, on the other hand, knew that Kratos knew Colette, the question was how much the teen had noticed of the way Colette treated Kratos. Subconsciously, she had taken to treating him exactly the same as she had during the pretence of their last journey together.

If the truth about Lloyd were to slip around her, who knew how the Chosen would react. Would she deny it, or would she grow angry with him for lying?

It was a question that haunted Kratos.

Once back at the inn, Tenebrae appeared to break some bad news to them:

"I'm afraid our young winged dragon friend is too young to be of any use on its own. It would surely be beaten very quickly if we were to send it on its own, we will need a distraction, then the dragon could slip in and save the day." Tenebrae ended his little speech with a note of sarcasm.

"…Perhaps I should-," started Kratos.

"I'll do it!" the cry came from both Marta and Colette.

"No, it's fine, I'll do it."

"You're way too klutzy, you'll screw it up."

"No, I don't want you to get hurt."

"S-stop it, I can't just let girls do it, _I'll_ do it!"

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at Emil, and then…

"Emil, are you sure that is a good idea?"

"OH, my _hero_, Emil you are so amazing!"

"Thank you Emil, you're so brave!"

"…"

This could _not_ end well.

………………

Kratos watched as Emil dodged attack after attack, leaping over and under gusts of wind that the bird sent at him. He had to hand it to the boy, it would not have been easy to get around those attacks _and_ keep away from the bird.

Emil's hand shot into the air hurriedly waving; begging Tenebrae to summon the winged dragons. The darkness Centurion did so, and tens of dragons charged at the decidedly shocked bird. It was an unseen phenomenon; it was impossible to see the invisible mana membrane, but Kratos, Colette, and Tenebrae could all feel it.

The Garuda screamed in fury before charging at the nearest figure, Emil, in pure fury. Kratos was guarding the blond Knight before the bird could touch him. With his shield and sword he pushed back the bird. Colette and Marta were not far behind him, both chanting behind him. Marta, a healing spell for Emil; and Colette a holy chant to send the lights of Judgment upon it.

Kratos leapt, spinning around in mid-air and launching a fireball from his sword with a shout of "Hell Pyre!" and the bird's outer feathers were burned away. His sword flashed back and forth as Kratos beat the bird back, soon enough Emil joined him; eyes glowing again, hissing insults at every swing of his sword.

The final word of Colette's angelic chant sounded and Kratos grabbed Emil by the scarf and hauled him away so as not to be touched by the light mana of Judgment as it rained down on the bird.

Battered, the Garuda fled, roaring its hatred at the group.

"W-we did it!" panted Marta.

"Hooray!" Colette clapped and bounced around, her wings out, and spun in the air.

"That was so _scary!"_ cried Emil, "Kratos, Colette, how the two of you do this kind of this for a living is way beyond me."

"Don't worry Emil, you get used to it." Colette beamed at him; Marta glowered at the elder girl, jealousy burned in her eyes.

"Now that we have defeated the Garuda, what next, I highly doubt making the bird flee will stop the winds."

Colette sighed, "You're right, perhaps we should ask Linear, he's Aisha's brother and he knows a lot about the Stone dais, I bet he'd be able to help us!"

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**Gasp! Pant, cough… oh, so tired, that's defiantly the longest chapter… **

**Hope you enjoyed the rushed, insane, fluffy, plot-building chapter.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	16. In Which They Enter the Stone Dias

**I'm gonna' finish the Asgard chapters (holy crap, am I already at six chapters in Asgard??) They'll finish up with the ruins and say bye-bye to Colettie… for once I'll actually miss that girl. Then, hopefully things'll pick-up in Palmacosta in a chapter or so. I need a bit of time for everyone to get their heads screwed on straight again… or screwed up just a bit more…**

**So, here's the last bit of Asgard plotline.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own any part of Tales of Symphonia or the sequel.**

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Linear acted exactly as Colette had predicted; ecstatically explaining that much of his work lead him to believe that there was an enormous ruin underneath the Stone Dias, this, presumably, was where the problem, and answer, to their problems resided. His theories all seemed to center around the Maiden ritual and dance, acting like some sort of key to the Dias. Aisha had eagerly said that she would perform the ritual, but Colette had instantly declined this: far too dangerous, she had said, but perhaps she, Colette, could be taught the dance and perform it.

"Colette, no offence, but you're way to klutzy for this," Marta had said, "I'll do this."

So Kratos, Emil, Colette, Tenebrae, Linear, Harley, and the monsters had all been ousted. Linear and Harley dispersed to the latter's house and the Chosen, Seraph, Centurion, and company returned to the inn.

Colette was very excited to be witnessing the Maiden Ritual again; she entertained Emil and Tenebrae with stories of their last adventure in the city of ruins.

"One of our friends performed it the last time we were here. She was so excited to do it, she started "Ruin-Mode-ing" around the Dias… it was so funny! But Lloyd, Genis, and Kratos were all so afraid!"

"Wha-? Colette, what's "Ruin-Mode"?" asked Emil as Kratos flinched behind them. The Sage woman's antics had terrified him; he was almost horrified at the mere _thought _of them.

"Oh, it's very fun, Lloyd and Genis always seemed to be afraid when she did it, but she seemed so happy I wasn't sure what was wrong."

"What exactly does this "Ruin-Mode" imply?" asked Tenebrae, fascinated.

"Oh, it's like this," Colette cleared her throat and a strange, disturbingly familiar, look came into her eyes; "Emil, state the history of Cleo III, Kratos what is the history of the ruin? OH, look at the polycarbonate! Feel the smooth surface! Tenebrae, can you decipher the runes here? OH FANTASTIC!!!!! Honestly, have you learned anything at _all_ these past five years??" Colette took a deep breath, "That's basically "Ruin-Mode" in a nutshell."

"I-I think I agree with your friends, Colette, that was terrifying."

"Oh, no it's quite fun, really!"

"_No, I agree, that's one o' the scariest things I've ever seen."_ Tut shuddered.

"_LK, if I ever get like that, kill me."_

"Trust me Nero," Kratos whispered to the imp, "It will not be difficult."

"_I'll say, it's never hard to kill you!"_ Eon teased.

"_Shut-up, _Toad,_ no one asked your opinion!"_

"Nero, Eon, please, shut-up."

"_Master Kratos, I thinks that's kinda' unlikely."_ Sophie wore sort of a half-smirk. It seemed she had been spending too long with bad influences.

"_Think_, Sophie, not _thinks_ and be polite."

"_Sorry…"_

"_Ha ha!"_

"_SHUT-UP EON!"_

………………

That night, too, was spent with very little of Marta's light-hearted influence; she was at Aisha's until long after Emil had turned in and retired straight to bed. So, in the meantime, Kratos, Colette, Tenebrae, and Emil amused themselves at the inn. The monsters were allowed to stay with the humans in the inn because of Colette's influence, therefore, they, too, were comfortably flopped around the room; Sophie snuggled happily on Kratos' lap.

"…" Colette watched Kratos sit, quietly stroking the little Alraune in between flipping pages in his book, chuckling quietly every so often. "I told you, you remind me of him, but… he wouldn't do that."

"What are you talking about Colette?" Emil looked blankly at the Chosen.

"Kratos only ever liked Noshy, Lloyd's… dog, he would never have done that, petted that little monster I mean, ever. He didn't like monsters."

"…" Kratos had no idea what to say, Emil knew nothing of Lloyd's reaction to him, the boy would not understand. "I see."

"Colette, what does that have to do with anything? I mean, I know you said Kratos reminded you of that one guy in the Regeneration Group, but I really don't see your point…"

"I-I'm sorry!" Colette squeaked, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears, "I-I guess that I've secretly been hoping that you _were_ Kratos, the one I knew, he would be able to clear up this whole Palmacosta thing. But… you couldn't be him. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so ungrateful, I like you a lot, but everyone really misses him. And we could use his help."

"My… apologies Colette, but…" Kratos wanted so much to tell the girl everything, but she would not believe him, she could not. Ever. It hurt that whatever he did, none of them, his _friends_, would ever match Kratos Aurion, protector of Ratatosk to Kratos Aurion, Seraph of Cruxis.

Tenebrae looked awkward, he know what Kratos would not tell Colette or Emil, the bits that escaped Marta's understanding. Emil was, once again, blank. He could not understand what bizarre connection Colette was making.

"But…" stuttered Emil, "isn't the Kratos you knew _dead?_ People don't come back from the dead!"

A bitter crock of laughter escaped Kratos' lips, didn't he _know_ that. Anna would not return to him, despite how he had begged, how he still begged. Martel was truly a lost cause; a lost cause that three deluded men had strived to return to them for four thousand years. Yet, yet in so many ways people _could_ return from what was, to so many, death. Lloyd and Noishe had not been dead, though Kratos had been convinced of it. Martel was now the Goddess of the Tree.

Both teens turned to look that the slightly insane man they were sitting with, what could he say that would correct this situation? At least explain it. Honestly, there was no answer, or, at least, none that he could give.

……………….

Marta was in a panic as she strived to remember everything that Aisha had told her about the Maiden Ritual, crying out that she had forgotten random bits and running to check notes or sighing as she remembered. Kratos and Emil made sure that their armor and weapons were in shape to brave whatever was below the stone.

There was a bitter wind that swept the hill that over looked Asgard, at the top of the hill another Garuda awaited them, it, however, it was easily dispatched, with the help of their dragon friends.

However, Colette had spent the previous night teaching Emil and Kratos one of her favorite mottos:

"Our weapons are Love!"

"Justice!"

Kratos could not believe he was about to do this, "…and Hope."

Colette and Emil cheered and Marta stared at them as though they were insane. Kratos could hardly blame her.

………………

Marta was gracefully performing the ritual Kratos had seen two years prior. Her steps were sure, despite her earlier worries and her eyes were closed, Kratos had a feeling that she was counting steps.

The last motions of the dance were completed and Marta raised the staff that she held in her grip to the skies, signifying the end of the dance when Ratatosk's core on her forehead flickered and light spread around the runes from where Marta stood and Kratos felt a rush of mana. Tenebrae gasped behind them as an enormous warp pad materialized.

"That didn't happen last time… whispered Colette. Kratos had to agree with the girl, he, personally, had never had much to do with Asgard's history. He had grown up here, but he hated this town with a passion, rarely returning even after his family line had died off.

"I believe we have found our way in," stated Kratos.

"I-I… _Ventus?" _choked Tenebrae, "_Ventus' _core has been causing these disasters?"

"Ventus? Is that another Centurion?" asked Colette and Emil at almost the same time.

"Correct, the Centurion of Wind, I suppose I should have expected this, but-."

"-But you didn't," stated Marta flatly.

"W-what?" Tenebrae looked offended, "I beg your pardon?!"

"Oh, quit being such a stick in the mud and let's go!"

Poor Tenebrae.

………………

The dissection on whether or not Tenebrae was a "stick in the mud" continued on as they entered into the warp. The room they arrived in was musty and cold, somewhere hundreds of miles away and deep underground, if Kratos was right. "Under the Stone Dias" was a bit of a misconception, honestly. Though Marta and Emil seemed totally oblivious to the fact that they were, in fact, far from where they had began.

"I really don't see any mud on Tenebie!" cried Colette, ending the "stick in the mud" debate cold.

"T-Tenebie?!" said the distrait and harassed Centurion, "My name is _Tenebrae_, NOT Tenebie!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, can I just call you Doggie than?"

"I am certainly _no_ canine!"

"Tenby?"

"Tennie?"

"I vote _Brae-brae!"_ shrieked Marta.

Kratos chuckled crawly, "Oh, yes, I like that one."

"I do too!"

"Perfect!" Colette and Emil were in total agreement with the other half of the group.

"I-I guess Tenebie is best," sighed the Centurion in defeat.

"_At least your nickname isn't _Toad," said Sophie trying to console her Centurion friend.

"Not helping dear."

………………

The underground tunnels and passages were dark and dank to say the least; water seeped in from small cracks in the ancient stone that had been worn down from centuries of wind blowing past from some unknown source.

According to Tenebrae, this was Ventus' power.

There were traps as well, just as in the Balacruf Mausoleum, pitfall traps, spikes from the walls, and puzzles that they had to solve to progress. Luckily they had gained a guild early on.

Her name was Valkie, and she was Emil's new Harpy. It had been a mere chance that the creature had decided to join the blonde and his friends. During a battle, Emil had quickly dispatched the Harpy and when the battle had ended, she had followed them further in. Soon enough they were being lead through the tunnels of the ruins.

It was a comfort to Kratos to know that they would, hopefully, not be getting _too_ lost down there.

Tenebrae would translate the directions that Valkie gave and they were able to avoid the worst of the traps and actually make if further than Kratos would have thought possible. In the Mausoleum they had had Kratos who had been through it a hundred times and Professor Sage who could read every word of the Balacruf writing. The success of that mission had been given mostly to her.

Several times they did nearly all fall down a forgotten hole, Kratos catching hold of Marta or Emil, Emil of Marta, or Colette pulling out her wings and saving herself at the last minute.

All in all, an uneventful journey.

As they neared the deepest area of the underground passages, Kratos, too, began to sense Ventus' Core; the mana it eluded was unmistakable when one was so close. Everyone was on edge, Valkie had never been this far in, she was now going off of what other monsters had told her, and so, much of the time, they had to turn back from dead-end passages.

Kratos kept very near the rest of the group, hoping nothing would jump out at them. At least, nothing that he could not protect them from.

Another Alter lay at the heart of a great chamber in the center of the underground ruins. On it, Ventus' Core; the core sparkled in the dim room. An unearthly glow emanating from the center of the small orb, enough that the whole room could be lit by only that source.

"So _that's_ the Core?" asked Emil.

"Correct, that is Ventus' Core-."

"Well, let's go get it-!" Marta's attempt at retrieving the Core was stopped before it had even began by the appearance of… the Windmaster?

"W-what is that thing?!" cried Emil.

"It's the fake Sylph!"

"I thought you'd said you got rid of that thing!" Emil shouted as he dodged an oncoming blast of wind.

"Ventus' Core must have revived it!" shouted Tenebrae.

"It can _do_ that?!" snapped Kratos.

"Well, let's get it!" Everyone turned to see Emil with his eyes glowing the bright red of battle.

"Let's do this!" cried Marta and they charged into battle.

The Windmaster was much stronger than it's Garuda guardian, it was also smarter. It's wind spells were ready in seconds and it's physical attacks were just as strong. Colette dashed to the back to start up a holy chant while Marta, Emil, and Kratos took up the front lines; Marta if only for a short while well no one was seriously hurt.

Kratos charged, with Tut next to him and the other monsters taking up spell casting positions, toward the fake Sylph; he leapt into the air, spinning sever times: "Light Spear!" He was knocked out of the air by the creature and he spun in the air landing on his feet some ways away. Emil seemed to be having the same luck that he had had; Demon Fangs and Havoc Strikes seemed to bounce off the tall being.

"Grand Cross!" cried Colette from behind them, the three melee fighters backed off as the monster was engulfed in angelic mana. Marta and Kratos both took this moment to start up spells: Marta, a healing spell for himself and Kratos, Grave. Perhaps the opposing mana would do something.

After Colette's spell had passed she and Emil took up the front lines and Kratos and Marta fell back, a Wind blade from the Windmaster knocked Marta's concentration and she grumbled as she pulled out a gel and began to cover the dozens of small but deep scratches the spell had caused.

"Grave!" Kratos' spell had finished charging and he sent it at the monster; it screamed as the ground around the Windmaster impaled it. With a final hiss, the monster disintegrated.

"Blame your fate," hissed Kratos, Colette, who had been cheering a moment before looked at him oddly; Kratos flinched, he should not have done that, Colette was suspicious already.

"I-I'll get the Core!" Colette ran up to the Alter, her hands closing around the green orb.

"No!" shouted Marta and Tenebrae.

"W-what's wrong?" Colette turned and Marta dashed up to the Alter and took Ventus from the elder girl.

"You can't touch it!"

"I don't understand."

"Colette," Tenebrae explained Marta's harsh behavior, "touching a Centurion's un-hatched Core will cause you to lose your mind, Lady Marta was merely worried about you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have been more careful… I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't touch things that you know nothing about!" snapped Marta.

"Marta, it is fine, you do not have to yell at Colette."

"Y-yeah, no harm, no foul, right?"

"I-I guess…" Marta seemed unnerved by both of her friends joining Colette's side on the matter. "Anyway, only those under Ratatosk's protection, like Emil, Kratos, and I, can touch them and keep out minds."

Kratos soaked this in, he vaguely recalled this being mentioned the last time he had been in contact with the Centurions, but it had been a obsolete fact; all of the Centurions had been hatched and running the world the way they should have been.

He should have paid more attention.

Marta hatched the Core; her arms spread wide as the power of "Ratatosk's Core", for it wasn't _actually_ Ratatosk, caused the Core to shed its husk-like skin and a gleaming orb of a pale green return to Marta's outstretched hands.

………………

Both Colette and, strangely, Marta were very quiet on their return to the surface. Emil and Kratos spoke quietly to each other and Tenebrae chatted away with the monsters, Valkie especially on how she had come to be in a place that was not the usual haunts for harpies.

When they reached the final flight of stairs, Marta turned to Colette and demanded to know what was wrong.

"Is it about the Centurion's Core?" she asked, "Don't worry; it takes a lot more than that to make you lose it."

"Yes, you have nothing to fear."

"No, it's not that… I saved Asgard, but now I can think about Lloyd and I'm really worried about him!"

"Oh… Colette, I don't know how to tell you this, but Lloyd is a jerk, I don't think it's worth _worrying_ about him!" Emil was almost as curt as Marta had been. Kratos, Tenebrae, and even Marta flinched with Colette.

"No, oh no, Emil, you don't know Lloyd like I do, he would never, _never,_ do anything like that! And… I can't see him making deals with the Church! Lloyd wasn't the most… religious person ever."

Understatement.

Colette looked away awkwardly, "No, it's just not possible."

They had reached the warp back to Asgard, when Kratos reached the top of the Stone Dias again he was pleasantly surprised to find that the wind had already settled down and the sky was clearing. So much for _subtle_ changes.

"I'm going after Lloyd." Kratos saw no way that anyone was going to dissuade the girl.

"Oh, perfect!" Emil smiled, "We're going after him too, you can come with us."

"I don't think I will, I'm sorry Emil, but I think Lloyd has his rehaird again, which means he can fly. I would have to search for him by air."

"So… how exactly would you plan on doing that?"

"Like this!" Colette pulled her wings out from the place in her back, no blood came with them; apparently she used them more often than Kratos had used his.

"Wow, Colette, that's so cool!" Both of the children stared in wonder at the pink appendages. Kratos tried to act interested.

"Anyway," said Colette landing again, "I think we should report to the Mayor, then I have to go."

"I guess, if that's what you want…"

………………

Speaking to the Mayor seemed to take far too little time for everyone's liking, Kratos' especially, he had liked having one of his old companions in the group, honestly, he had been very happy. He could never make up for how he had caused her to suffer, but he felt like he had a good start to it.

Emil looked almost in tears as he watched Colette pull out her wings again and Marta, too, seemed to be blinking back tears.

"Do, do you really have to leave, Colette?"

"I need to find out the truth about Lloyd. But it was really nice meeting all three of you. I'm sure we'll meet again really, really soon!"

"Colette, I hope the next time we meet it'll be as friends."

"Oh, Marta, thank you, I'm so happy!"

"D-don't, I still blame you for my mother's death, but you're too nice a person to have done it purposely, I know that now."

"Well, bye!"

"…" Kratos watched as Colette rose higher and higher, finally, as she began to really gain speed, he called after her, "I hope you'll find what you're looking for!"

She waved to show that she had heard… or perhaps she had not and was simply saying goodbye.

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**Next chapter will be more character bonding… I think it's about time Emil got acquainted with Kratos' relations. **

**Wow, that made it sound like they're dating. Disturbing images BURN!!!**

**And I leave you on that disturbing note.**

**R&R**

**~Mystic Yoshi**


	17. In Which Several Strange Things Happen

**I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out, call it an apology gift for the last two crappy chapters that I made you read. This should give you something to think about… Also my Beta, Rouge, enjoyed it a lot more than she had the last two, so, hopefully, you won't all hate it.**

**Danke for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshi does not own Tales of Symphonia or its sequel.**

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Saving the world had defiantly put Lloyd Irving-Aurion's life into perspective. One would expect that Lloyd, after such a hard year of battling and puzzle solving, would want to settle down to an idle life of being the hero. Such things were simply an illusion of the inexperienced mind. Once one had their whole life upturned it became very difficult _not_ to jump out of a light sleep when the door slammed, or to pull your sword out if someone came up too quietly behind you.

Lloyd far from _meant _to jump every time someone said his name.

There were few people who understood this; his friends were all very _relaxed_ about what had happened. Colette, the girl he had thought he could share anything with, could not grasp the reason he would not take his sword off even indoors. He had been on his guard for too long, now he could not leave it on the battlefield; he could not _leave_ the battlefield.

Surprisingly it was Yuan, his newly found Godfather, which had given him solace during the past two years.

Becoming the Guardian of the Tree had been an easy decision for the Seraph; the harder choice had been splitting up the Renegades. He had spent far too long with some of the men and they, too, would miss the friend they had made in the blue-haired half-elf. Centuries of being together and fighting to save the ignorant world had brought the several hundred half-elves and humans that made up the Renegades together.

The war had been won and they no longer were needed to be the protectors of the world, however, they, like Lloyd, could not truly ever leave the battlefield and so Yuan had given them each a bit of gald and told them to make their way in the world. The Renegades were called upon from time to time to assist in Lloyd's attempt to collect exspheres.

It was, after all, nice to sleep in someplace _other_ than an inn at times.

Lloyd had spent his time traveling the new world, searching every nook and cranny for exspheres and cleaning up after Mithos. However, whenever he needed to talk to someone, Yuan always seemed to be able to listen and understand. He just figured it was the old age that did it.

The cottage that Yuan now lived in was the exact opposite of his old office in the Renegade base. Less plush and more wood decorated the desolate home. It was still comfortable though. Two stories high and a basement, Yuan was able to fit most of the technology he seemed obsessed with into the little house. He was just a moment's run to the infant Tree if he was needed.

Lloyd sat slouched against a chair at the dining room table, why Yuan had a dining room was beyond him, but it was Lloyd's favorite room in the house. An island of norm in a sea of strangeness.

And it represented Lloyd's life during these demented times, ironic, no?

"So this "Kratos" person seems to speak, act, talk, and _look_ like Kratos, however, it is physically impossible for him be Kratos," Yuan glanced around at his godson from where he was making them dinner, "Am I correct?"

"Yeah, that about covers it," Lloyd's answer was blunt.

"Yes, I do recall meeting him; he does seem to fit the description well."

"What do you think we should do about him?"

"Perhaps we should watch the man, we could learn something, if not about him, then this boy, Emil is it?"

"Find weaknesses?"

"Lloyd you sound like you're running a secret organization, and as much as I am proud of the natural instincts you seem to posses, I fear you're taking this a bit too seriously."

"Yuan, the world is in danger. Again. _Shouldn't_ we be taking this seriously?"

Yuan's blue-green eyes met the nineteen-year-old's and for a long moment, the two angels stared each other down. Finally, Yuan sighed and turned back to the meal he was creating.

"You're right. You're thinking in terms of war, and if this does not go as planned then that _is, _essentially, what we are facing. However, the odds are that this doesn't have to turn bad. Try to keep an open mind. Isn't that what you're supposed to be good at?"

"Yeah, but then again, aren't _you_ the one that's supposed to be too serious?" Yuan chuckled at this.

"Too true, unfortunately I fear I've been spending too much time with you. Here's your dinner."

So, both immortals sat down to a dinner of pork and rice.

………………

"Kratos," the Marta girl looked up from where she was cuddled up to Emil with a strange little monster on her lap. "Kratos, what's for dinner?"

"I do not know, what would you like?" The elder man glanced up from where he was reading a book on the Regeneration. Ha, Kratos would not _need_ to read that book, he would _know_ what had happened on the journey, and know that half of those books were crap.

"I'll cook." It was Emil who spoke.

"You cook?" demanded Marta, "Wow, strong, handsome, _and_ handy in the kitchen, you really are my perfect man!" Emil began to stutter and mumbled about him not being all that great.

Lloyd snorted from his hiding place in one of the few trees that were on the Asgard moors between the city and Hakonesia Peak. It was a pleasant evening out and so they had begun their journey to Palmacosta that morning, looking for _him._ If only they knew how close he was.

"I have no objections to your cooking, I just hope you do not end up as bad as Marta, I don't think the monsters can take much more of _that."_ The last part was not meant for either of the children to hear, rather, it seemed to be directed at the imp and alraune that sat on his shoulder and lap, Lloyd only heard it because of his angelic hearing.

Kratos also would not have let the monsters get anywhere near that close without his sword sliding through them that is.

The creatures must have made some reply because "Kratos" chuckled and turned back to his book and muttering, "yes, I quite agree, except for Ms. Sage of course."

"Ms. Sage"? In the context of food? How could he have know about that? The book said nothing about the Professor's eccentric cooking habits. No one outside of the group could have known about that…

A shriek rang across the campsite as a large harpy spiraled toward Emil. Lloyd expected everyone to jump and attack the thing, but only Emil flinched as the thing more-or-less tackled him to the ground, _hugging_ him.

There was most defiantly something wrong with these people. Lloyd had been sitting a very long time now, and he was getting stiff, the night was getting cold. He half-wished he could go over and join them at their campfire where they were passing out bowls of good-smelling food and settling in for the evening.

Vaguely, he wondered if this was how his father had felt when he had watched the Regeneration Group at night. Did he simply want to throw protocol and logic out the window and join the enemies for dinner?

He doubted it.

_Dad wouldn't have let his guard down like that._ Decided Lloyd, _it wouldn't have mattered how tired or hungry he got, he just wouldn't have._

It still did not make anything easier.

Eventually, Marta went to bed, complaining about "running through caves with air-headed Chosens" made her tired.

"_Air-headed Chosens"?_ Did that mean they had met Colette? Zelos could _sometimes_ fall under that category, but that was not the usual description of the Chosen of Tethe'alla. So they must have seen Colette, but what was she doing in Asgard? He wished they would say something to clear the questions from his head.

"Yeah, it was really nice of her to help the people of Asgard; it would be really hard to live in any place that windy all the time." Emil smiled, "I hope we see her again."

"Wait, Emil," Marta had a funny, slightly horrified look on her face as she popped up from her bedroll. "You don't _like_ her, do you?"

"Wha? Um… I guess I like her, I don't know what you really mean though."

"Well, I'm NOT losing to her! Emil, you're mine!"

Even Lloyd could hear the implications in the girl's voice.

"Go to bed Marta, this much courting before bed is bad for your complexion."

"Oh har har. You're hilarious."

"Actually, I found it quite funny." Suddenly Tenebrae had joined in the conversations, ghosting up next to Emil. Lloyd jumped, but Kratos, Marta, and Emil all looked perfectly at ease.

"That's it, I'm not talking to you while everyone gangs up on me!" With that, she flopped down onto her bed and pulled the covers over her head. "Jerks."

Kratos chuckled and Emil had the decency to blush, Tenebrae just looked rather smug. After a few minutes the girl's breathing evened out as she slipped into unconsciousness. The mercenary, Lloyd refused to refer to him by the name he had given himself, sat reading his book and Emil was staring very hard at the other world, the one that was not the merc.'s, as if they were having a staring contest.

Eventually the silence was broken by Kratos chuckling about something he was reading, Emil looked up and Lloyd could see him roll his eyes by the firelight, "Kratos, we've said it before and we'll say it again, that book is _not_ meant to be funny!"

Lloyd was shocked by how at ease Emil seemed to be around the intimidating man.

"My apologies, but… there are things that are rather humorous to me." Lloyd was dying to know where he was in the book.

"Well than share the joke," Tenebrae looked interested.

"You would not understand it. I will stop if it is that irksome to you."

"Whatever." Emil still looked amused, he turned back to the wolf and seriousness covered his face again.

After a few moments the mercenary spoke again; "You know staring will not help. It will come on its own."

"It's just a good way to focus."

"Emil…"

"It'll come, I'm sure."

"Trust me, you don't want it to."

"That annoying?"

"Nero takes offence to that."

_Who the hell is Nero?_ Lloyd looked around the campsite, half expecting to see another form in the firelight.

Emil only chuckled, "Sorry Nero, I didn't mean to."

There was a brief silence as though they were waiting for an answer and then, "She forgives you."

"That's good… hey, Kratos, can you understand _my_ monsters too?" Understand monsters? What was the child talking about? People could not understand monsters. Lloyd was baffled, he knew that Knights of Ratatosk could control monsters, not the specifics, but the basic idea, but not that they could be communicated with.

"Only vague feelings, like if Isho was particularly opposed to a dish, or Lithos angry."

"But not words?"

"Only from my own, unfortunately. There are times I wish I did not understand even _that."_

"He he, so… do they get annoying or something?"

"Understatement."

"Yeah… hey, speaking of monsters, where's Sophie?"

Both males stood, looking around for the little creature that had apparently wondered off. Lloyd watched, what was so great about this monster? It was not like it was a person or something. He was all for being kind to all living things, but the two seemed overtly worried about the little thing.

Suddenly a shiver ran up Lloyd's back, as though he were being… watched.

He spun around to find Sophie, the very creature that the two knights were looking so desperately for. He recalled the time when the little creature had clung to his leg and the merc. demanded that she return. What did the creature want?

Its great black eyes stared up at him as though trying to convey some silent message. Lloyd glared back but the little thing held its ground.

..................

"_You is Master Kratos' son."_ Sophie looked up at Lloyd with wide eyes. Why could he not see that his father was there, right in front of his nose?

"What do you want, creature?"

"_That's not nice human."_

He could not understand her, he would not listen, there was nothing she could do about it, and it irritated her to no end. Master Kratos would have claimed that it was from hanging out with Nero too much, but she just wanted the red boy to stop making his so unhappy.

"Just go back to your _Master,"_ snapped the boy in red.

"_You has got to listen to me! I has not got to do what you says, so listen! You has got to stop making him sad, go talk to him!"_ Sophie was practically shouting the words.

"W-what? Why are you staring at me like that? S'not like I did anything to you."

"_It's not me we're talkin' about! Grr… why can't you understand me?!"_

"Look, I don't speak monster, sorry. Can't help ya'."

"_Why is you so stupid?!"_

"_I am not stupid!"_

Both monster and angel froze. Something was happening, something very, very wrong. Sophie watched horrified as Lloyd lost conscience for a moment as the strangest thing she had ever seen took place; Lloyd… vanished and in his place was a strange cat-like creature with wide black eyes and soft golden fur and, oddest of all, tiny, black wings. It looked rather adorable with huge fuzzy ears and a puffball tail.

"_L-Lloyd? Is you okay?"_

"_W-what happened?" _The creature that Lloyd's voice echoed from stood and blinked several times. It was not much bigger than Sophie when standing.

"_I found her!"_ the shout came from behind them, and Sophie turned to find Tut running through the undergrowth leading Kratos and Emil.

………………

Lloyd's head hurt like hell, like worse than when the Professor hit him in the head with her staff, like worse than the time he was almost possessed by Mithos. It was not _quite_ so bad as geometry, but that was not what Lloyd wanted to think about at the moment. What he was thinking about was how _tall_ the alraune that he had been talking to had gotten.

"_This is really, really bad!"_ cried the little monster. _"Super-duper bad!"_

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_ Lloyd demanded, but before she could answer, two tall figure appeared over them.

"There you are Sophie, we have been looking all over for you. Oh, what is this?" It was Emil and the merc. They'd found him! Lloyd was sure in trouble now. He began to stutter out explanations but neither Knight seemed to understand him.

Wait.

He could understand the monster.

However, the Knights, _human_ Knights, could not understand him.

Oh no, this could not be happening.

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**Bet you didn't see **_**that one**_** coming! HA! Am so freaking evil. Poor Lloyd, why is it that we always give crap to the characters we love the most?**

**R&R.**

**~Yoshi**


	18. In Which Nothing Makes Sense

**Ehehe… I'm so evil.**

**I've made you wait a whole week after that rather climactic chapter. Well here's what happens next, enjoy. Oh, and Lloyden is a Chimera, for those of you who are wondering.**

**And a word on monster storage. I have, after much thought, decided that four monster per person is more than enough for me to work with, therefore, when a new pact is made, Tenebrae takes one of the existing party monsters and takes them to "limbo"/monster heaven. I don't have much of a theory past that, but I don't feel like dealing with Katz, so this is what you get. If you have a better idea, please submit. I **_**need them.**_

**Disclaimer: Yoshi no owni.**

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"Do you want it or should I take it?" Emil's question echoed in Kratos' head for a moment before he actually comprehended that the young Knight was talking to him.

"I do not care, do you want it?"

"Why don't you take it, I've gotten the last three pacts and you could use a new addition."

"Are you sure? I have four already."

"Take it, besides, I bet it's one of those finicky ones that I'd kill."

"Emil, these are monsters, not goldfish. I highly doubt you'd be able to kill one all _that_ easily." Tenebrae entered the conversation, swiftly moving to protect the monsters that served him. "Though I do agree with Emil, Tut was hurt in the last battle, I could send him to rest and you could take on a new pact."

"Fine, if you insist." Kratos turned to the little Chimera that stared up at him, frozen. The little thing must have been terrified, it was shaking and Sophie was looking at it was a sort of fascinated horror. He would inquire after that in a moment. He took out his sword and held it to the creature's neck, expecting a fight. Instead the monster seemed to faint from terror, or fatigue. Kratos was unsure as to which. "Sophie, do you know what is wrong with it?"

"_I thinks it's… scared."_

"Think, Sophie, and are you sure it is alright?"

"_No, I don't _think_ he is… we should do somethin'."_

"I agree. Emil, would you pull out my blankets, I think the Chimera is injured, we should take care of it."

"O-oh, right."

……………….

When the little creature was safely resting, Kratos examined it for any wounds, however, none seemed to be present. Fatigue then? Or something else? Horror perhaps. That could have knocked the little thing out. It seemed rather young to be wandering about on its own. It had probably been knocked unconscious by surprise seeing Emil and himself approaching.

"Sophie," Kratos turned to the alraune, distaste written on his face, "you should not have disappeared from the camp like that. We were worried about you."

"_I'm sorry Master Kratos. I won't do it again."_

Kratos' eyes softened, "Thank you Sophie. Now, tell me, did you find this little one like this, or did you talk?"

"_We talked."_ Something in Sophie's tone suggested that she was not being entirely honest and Kratos eyed her.

"What aren't you telling me young lady?"

"_I'm a monster, not a lady Master Kratos."_

"Very amusing Sophie." Kratos' face said differently. "Tell the truth."

"_I-…I fought it before you showed up. I'm sorry, he jumped out of the bushes before you showed up with Master Emil. I was embarrassed so I didn't say nothin'."_

"It's alright Sophie, thank you for telling me…"

"_Y-yeah…"_

………………

Lloyd's world seemed to be spinning faster than when he had first used a warp pad, nothing seemed to want to stay in one place, objects, people, monsters all seemed to spin around him. His head hurt, he couldn't even stand.

He listened to what was happening around him; the sounds of someone digging through a bad, soft conversations around him, all of which revolved around so _"it"_. Whoever _it_ was.

He heard Emil's familiar voice questioning the merc. And the older man's reply, and also voices he did not recognize. A low female and a blubbering male and…Sophie. The little monster he had… talked to? That could be the only explanation, he _talked_ to the monster.

If that was the most logical thing he could think of than there was something very wrong here.

"Hey, you up?" the female voice was closer now, and Lloyd felt a dull object poke his back.

"_Nero, don't do that, he need's rest."_ The merc.'s voice rang in the back of his head, like a translation from another language.

"He's up, he just isn't payin' attention," the voice over him growled back.

"Nero, please, leaves him alone." That was Sophie.

"Fine kid, whatever. I swear, I don't wanna' tangle with you if you turn out catatonic in the end."

"Thanks Nero."

"That's right, ignore me!" the blubbering voice was in the conversation now.

"Don't worry, Toad, that's really hard to do."

"Mmhmm."

"Don't call me that Imp!"

"Ohh, ouch. Toad, that was so _mean."_

"_Nero, Sophie, Eon, stop fighting!"_

"…Sorry."

"Oops, sorry LK."

"Bah, suck-ups."

"Permission to beat up the Toad, LK?"

"_Denied, Nero."_

_What the hell is going on here?_ Lloyd's thoughts could not focus. He was, quite frankly, worried. The last thing he could recall was… too disturbing to think about.

"_Are you awake?"_ the merc.'s voice cut through Lloyd's thoughts.

"No."

A soft chuckle, _"I do believe you are lying."_

"Leave me alone."

"_What is your name?"_

"Give me your name and I shall give you mine!" Lloyd did not open his eyes. There was a long silence.

"_My name is Kratos, and yours is…?"_

"Lloyd, now let me sleep _Kratos."_

………………

"_Lloyd, now let me sleep_ Kratos."

Lloyd? He sounded, acted, talked, from the little Kratos had witness of the little Chimera, like his son. But Lloyd _could not_ be a monster. Physically impossible.

What was the world coming to?

"Kratos?" Emil questioned him from behind, "How's he doing? Will he talk?"

"Apparently his name is Lloyd."

"Woah, really? That's weird."

"Would you two _please_ keep it down? I'm trying to sleep!"

"S-sorry Marta, it's just… Kratos made a new monster pact and, well, its name is Lloyd."

"What? Really?" Marta sat up from her blankets looking around eagerly. "It's so cute!"

………………

It had been a few hours from the pact making when Lloyd awoke, eyes and limbs heavy and belly growling. The weather was miserable, very solid-looking fog gathered around them and the sky misted cold rain down on them.

"Is Lloyd hungry?" a soft voice called from behind.

"W-wha? Oh, it's you. Um… no I'm fine-." Lloyd's denial was cut off by a very loud sound from his stomach.

"Let me gets you some food."

"Thanks…" Lloyd surveyed his surroundings; a small fire burning despite the rain, Marta and Emil snuggled under several blankets together, the Kratos guy kneeling, cape-less, in front of the fire stirring something that smelled good.

It was to him that Sophie was heading, he handed her a bowl with a word of thanks for "taking care of Lloyd". The alraune returned the dish to Lloyd, steaming oatmeal.

"T-thanks." Lloyd sat back on his haunches trying to work his new… hands around the bowl.

"It'll work better if you eat off the ground…"

"That's disgusting!"

"You're gonna' spill it."

"Ha ha."

"Dude, listen to the plant, she's usually right." It was the imp from last night. "Seriously, don't spill the food or you'll be lickin' it off the ground. Sheesh, how do you _not_ know how to eat?"

"Nero, be nice, I think his head got scrambled during the pact," Sophie giggled.

"Nice Soph."

"Hello, confused, injured, and worried person-err, monster here. Could I please get a few answers before you go off harassing me?"

"What'd you wanna' know, kid?"

"…um…" Lloyd looked at Sophie, the alraune half-shrugged and shook her head. Do not tell Nero. "What happened last night?"

"Well, according to Sophie, you two met, fought, and you got your butt kicked. Then, LK, that would be the guy stirring breakfast over there-."

"-Master Kratos-"

"-Master Kratos, right, anyway, he made a pact with you, that brought you onto the team."

"Team?"

"We're fighting against the Vanguard and trying to collect the Centurion's Cores before they, or Lloyd, does."

"Centurion Cores and Lloyd?"

"Centurions, like Tenebrae, control us. If they don't wake up then the world will go into discord and die. And Lloyd is Master Kratos' son, 'cept he doesn't know it. He's working to collect the Cores for Martel knows what."

"What does this pact thing imply exactly?"

"My Gods you ask a lot of questions. You work for LK, he feeds you, level's you up, and gives you a good home, if you don't mind traveling all over the place."

"Okay, and the other kids?"

"Emil and Marta, Knight of Ratatosk and Ratatosk's "holder", think of her as Ratatosk's transportation system."

"And Ratatosk is…?"

"Don't you know _anything?_ Ratatosk is the keeper of the Door to Niflheim, Lord of Monsters and Centurions. Eventually, with the awakening of the Centurions, LK, Emil, and Marta want to awaken him and save the world. Here ends lesson."

"That's about everything," said Sophie brightly. "Thanks Nero."

"Nero's gunna go get breakfast. You want any Soph?"

"Please?"

Nero nodded once and floated off to get the two of them breakfast. Sophie turned back to Lloyd blushing greenly a bit."

"Sorry 'bout her, she's blunt, but she means the best, really."

"Nah, I've met weirder; my dad showed how much he "loved" me by betraying me and almost killing my friends."

"That sounds like Master Kratos."

"He is _not_ my dad."

"Lloyd… eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

"Right. So, what are we going to do next?"

"We're going to Palmacosta through Hakonesia Peak." Sophie looked away from Lloyd politely as he began his mean; sinking his head into his dish and Noishe-style lapping up his breakfast. "What are you gonna' do?"

"I get the feeling that leaving isn't exactly an option at this point, so I may as well stick with this lot, I mean, at least I can learn something about my _enemies_." Lloyd's scornful tone echoed up from his dish and Sophie glared at him.

"You try _anything_ and you're dead."

"You think _you_ can touch me?"

"Me, Nero, Eon, Isho, Lithos, Valkie, and maybe Tut, we could do it."

"Isho, Valkie, and Lithos?"

"They're Emil's monsters, Isho is an imp and Lithos is a wolf and Valkie is a Harpy."

"That thing that attacked Emil last night."

"She hugged him." Sophie seemed to be quickly losing patience with Lloyd, his attitude was not doing him any credit, his manners increasingly uncivil. "I'll let you eat."

Sophie was gone, off across the campsite and eating with Nero, chatting happily away about nothing; smiling and giggling like nothing was wrong.

_Nothing was wrong?_

Everything was wrong. This was supposed to be a simple "spy on the nut job who claims to be dad" mission. Not "attempt to spy on nut job who claims to be dad, get turned into an f'ing cat-thing, make a pact with said nut, and join the enemies team", there was something distinctly _wrong_ with the situation, wouldn't you say?

Lloyd finished his breakfast and, unsure of what to do with the bowl, brought his over to the campfire by the other bowls and then sat down as close as he could to the fire, listening to the human's conversation.

"_-I bet he would get cold, he's a fire elemental monster."_

"_Oh, Emil you're so smart!"_

"…" It was almost embarrassing to watch as Marta practically tackled Emil and the two of them when tumbling off the log they were sitting on back onto the frozen earth. Lloyd chuckled.

"_I totally agree, it is most amusing."_ Lloyd blushed, Kratos had heard him.

"Uh… yeah."

"_Hey, that's not fair, love isn't _amusing_!"_

"_H-hey, Marta, where should we go next?"_ Emil was, quite obviously, trying to turn the conversation, not very subtly Lloyd might add, from Marta and himself."

"_I was thinking we could try to go to Iselia, that's Lloyd's hometown, so maybe there's someone that we could talk to there."_

"_Yeah, that sounds good…"_

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**Argg… I'm not in the mood to make this one of my longer chapters, Asgard sorta' wore me out. I'm going to get us back to Kratos next chapter as the finally make it to Hakonesia Peak and their destinies! Or not. **

**Also, I updated my profile that means monster lists and a few bits of feedback that I want, so if you'd be kind enough to take a peak Yoshi'd owe you forever.**

**Danke!**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	19. In Which Emil Has Bad Dreams

**Chapter nineteen. **

**Um… goal for the chapter would be to get through Hakonesia Peak… All back in Krattie's POV, I'm sure some of you are happy about this fact. So, yeah.**

**Also, I was looking up Centurion and Chimera on and I got the funniest definitions: Centurion: a lower leader in the Roman Army, accurate, no? And Chimera was a fantastical beast made of different monsters, the synonyms were **_**dream, dilution, and fantasy.**_** Poor Lloyd is experiencing just that. I love irony.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World.**

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Hakonesia Peak was quieter than Kratos and Marta had left it the last time they were here, much to the former's pleasure there was no army of Vanguard members waiting to ambush them… or so they thought.

"Damn, it's Alice!"

"The s-sadist?"

Kratos soundlessly shoved Emil and Marta into the side of the nearest building, the farthest side from where he too had spotted the young member of the Vanguard. They watched as she spoke to Hawk:

"Lady Alice, we've received reports that the Chosen is heading toward Triet-."

"Oh, that's Decus' territory! That's no fun!" Alice stomped her foot childishly, her voice rising in painful octaves as she grew more distressed.

"B-but, I have also heard that Lady Marta is heading toward Palmacosta!"

"Mart-mart?" Alice looked interested, a disturbing smile spread across her face, "That means Krattie-kins and the little pet too, hmm? This is good, Hawkie, I'm going to set a little trap for them in Palmacosta, I'll go now, you go back to Asgard and contact me if their plans change."

With that, Alice was gone, presumably to Palmacosta. Hawk stood there a moment, a slightly shocked expression painted on his face.

"Well, I guess that knocks Palmacosta off our list…" Emil looked disappointed.

"No, I think we should still go." Marta looked at the two of them.

"Are you suicidal?" hissed Kratos, "It's difficult enough to keep the two of you alive without _walking_ into their damn traps!"

"But we know about it now!" cried Marta, "It would be one thing if we didn't know what to look for, but we know what she's planning, so we should be safe!"

"M-Marta, maybe Kratos is right and we should just go a different way…"

"How? Where? Where else can we go without a boat? Luin's lake is dry; we can't go that way, and Asgard get's all its supplies from Palmacosta too. Hima's out of the question. What would you suggest?"

She made a good point; Palmacosta really was the only way off the continent, or at least for the moment. Besides, getting a boat and going to Izoold really was their best chance at finding Lloyd.

"Although I agree, it would be unwise to walk straight into the Vanguard's trap… perhaps Marta is… right. There is little else we can do lest we lose Lloyd's trail."

There was a soft snort from the shadows behind them where Tenebrae's cloak of darkness kept the monsters hidden, Kratos ignored it.

"Perhaps I could help with this." Tenebrae materialized behind Emil who jumped, too tense to take Tenebrae's jokes lightly today, "I could change your clothes like I did to Emil's, it may make you harder to identify. Besides, you are rather conspicuous dressed like that."

There was a moment as everyone looked down at his or her clothing and either blushed or, in Kratos' case, felt rather offended.

"You see my point?"

"You put me in this!" cried Emil.

"Quite frankly, I feel offended." Kratos voice was perfectly monotone and even.

"But my _flowers_ Tenebrae!" Marta looked horrified.

"Not you two, honestly, but I do believe that Kratos is attracting too much attention in that outfit."

"That is ridiculous," hissed Kratos, "I fit in the best with crowds."

"I disagree. The dark colors make you look suspicious; they also seem to be almost a calling card. You are far too fond of your image Mr. Aurion; losing the clothing will make you much less easy to identify. Besides, the Vanguard would be able to tell Lady Marta wherever she went and Alice has only seen Emil once and quite frankly she was too focused on the oh-so-attractive Kratos to pay him much heed. Therefore I see a need for only Kratos to change his appearance." Tenebrae finished his speech strongly, knowing he only needed to convince the younger parties in order to force the fate on Kratos.

"Maybe…" It was Emil who spoke softly beside Tenebrae, "Perhaps Tenebrae has a point, no offence Kratos but you aren't that hard to track…"

"Exactly!" the Centurion was triumphant, "Now, let's all head to the inn and get your outfits sorted out!"

It would turn out that this was the biggest mistake Kratos had ever made in his long life... or so he would claim.

………………

"What the hell is this Tenebrae?!" demanded Kratos as he examined himself in the tall mirror in Marta's room at the inn.

"That, my dear Kratos, would be the height of fashion."

"I agree with Tenebrae Kratos, you look…" the girl blushed and Kratos glared at her, "…sexy."

"W-what?" cried Emil, "Marta are you serious?"

"Oh, don't worry Emil; no matter what Kratos looks like, you'll always be the only man for me!" Marta ran toward the young knight, arms open wide as she flung herself at him, the two of them landing hard on the ground; Emil on his butt, Marta on the former's lap. "I love you Emil!"

"How adorable." Sarcasm dripped from the Centurion's words.

Kratos turned his attention from the teasing, bickering, and _hugging_ of his companions and back to the reflection that greeted him in the mirror. His hair was unchanged but for a strip of black that married his bangs, his clothing on the other hand was completely different. He had been traveling the world once again in his Mercenary gear; black top and pants, swallowtail cape, boots, etc. Now, however, he wore a black turtleneck and tight-fitting pants of a different, lighter material. It seemed much less weatherproof than his old clothes had been. Over it all was a white jacket, the lining was a deep purple that reached down below his knees. His belts, too, were white and the deep purple, as was the lining on his shirt and pants.

His gloves, which he had once worn to hide his exsphere, now wrapped around it and its key crest, reveling the little red stone. His boots were heavy and would have been awkward but for the fact that they fit tightly and comfortably. "Is there _nothing_ else you can give me?" he asked Tenebrae who turned from watching the couple to survey Kratos' new clothing.

"I like it, it suites you, sort of a blend of _Mercenary _and _Judgment._"

"Tenebrae this is not amusing."

"Shall we check what the judges think?" The Centurion was smirking.

"Judges?"

"Why, your monsters of course."

"_I likes it Master Kratos!"_

"_Very sexy LK."_

"_You look _fantastic_ oh great Master Kratos."_ Eon's reply was dripping sarcasm.

"_I can honestly say that I have no opinion on the matter."_ Lloyd looked slightly bored, the chimera had been very distant, fighting only because the pact the bonded them forced him to. Eating little and speaking only when it was required of him. Sophie and Nero had been doing their best to be friendly, or as friendly as Nero could be, but he had hardly responded. _"Great… I guess."_

"Thank you all _kindly_ for your support."

"Kratos, honestly, you look great. Why are you freaking out so much, at least now we'll be able to go to Palmacosta before we lose track of Lloyd and Lumen. So, can we stay the night here? Please?" Kratos sighed, he had wanted to keep moving, the rooms were bought, but Palmacosta was nearly a week's journey and Lloyd had a Rheaird he could be in Tethe'alla right now… which meant that one night in a inn would not put the much farther behind than the already were.

"I see no problem with that… but only one."

"Yes!" Marta jumped up and down happily, "I love inns, they're way more comfy than sleeping on the floor!"

"Y-yeah." Emil was even smiling.

………………

Emil and Kratos were sharing a room at the inn while Marta had her own room, Nero, Eon, and Isho were "posted" with her while the rest of the monsters, as well as Tenebrae, stayed with Kratos and Emil. The young Knight of Ratatosk was curled up in bed fast asleep with Lithos at the end of the bed and his head resting on Valkie's curled, feathery form. He would sigh softly in his sleep every so often, but other than that, the boy could have been dead for all the movement he made.

Kratos had been working him hard, splitting the duties that he had had to take care of himself before the boy had joined them. He had, despite his first opinion of Emil, grown almost affectionate of the Knight. He was honest to a fault, quiet, and irritating as hell in both his apologizing, timid persona and as the rude, bossy, bloodthirsty _Ratatosk Mode_, or so Marta had dubbed it, but Kratos could only find affection in his opinion of him.

The only question was what would happen when Ratatosk began to take a greater hold of the body. Emil was, after all, Ratatosk. It was shocking, but Kratos had, to an extent, almost forgotten that Emil was the Summon Spirit himself. The creature that he, Mithos, Martel, and Yuan had made a pact with so many centuries ago had only given himself the form of a giant monster, though Kratos knew that he could change his form, as any Spirit could.

And yet here he was, the most feared of the Summons, asleep with his friends, simply grateful that tonight his sleep would not be affected by the frozen winter winds of the Asgard Plateau. These were decisions, thoughts that should be left to time, after all, Ratatosk could not stay dormant forever, but Kratos still felt a feeling of foreboding.

He blinked, pulling his thoughts back to present; Kratos was seated in the single chair in their double suite with Sophie asleep on his lap and Lloyd resting on his bed. His book was open in one hand to the page that he had been reading until his thoughts had slipped away from him.

"_The Tower of Salvation in Sylvarant was a great formation that was created by the Angels that reached up to their domain in the Heavens. The Chosen, Lloyd Irving, Kratos Aurion, __Sheena Fujibayashi, Raine and Genis Sage were able to contract a Dragon Tours owner and were graciously given three of the majestic beasts to fly to the Tower for the final seal release. _

"_The Chosen and her protector Aurion road on one dragon, Irving and Fujibayashi, and the Sage siblings all took dragons as well…"_

_The Tower…_ Kratos' thoughts drifted back again to that time when he had been forced to hurt his son, against his will, thoughts, his very instincts he faced his son with drawn blade and lashed out at him. Causing him pain, bleeding, and thrusting him into the very hell that he had tried so hard to protect him from.

"Dammed idiot, Kratos you fool. How could you have let that happen? Why didn't you just turn your blade on your "Lord" Yggdrasill instead of your own blood? Or better yet ended your own accursed life? No. _"There's no point in dying."_ I have to remember, and never hurt him again."

"_What are you talking about?"_ Lloyd had awoken and was watching Kratos with a keen, almost disturbed, interest. _"You've got a kid?"_

"Lloyd, like yourself-." The Chimera, for all intents and purposes, snorted, "-why do you ask?"

"_Call it morbid curiosity. What were you rambling about, isn't suicide a bit dark, even for you?"_

"I beg to differ, I hurt my son once. No, much more than once, I left, abandoned him. Turned my blade on him. To atone for what I have done is impossible, although he constantly tried to convince me otherwise… He was such a great idealist, I wonder what has happened to him… The Church, Palmacosta, these are things that I would have thought him unable to do… unless I was there."

"_Were you? You seem… convinced of his guilt, why else would you be chasing him across the world?"_ There was badly suppressed anger in the small creature's voice.

"I was there, I spoke to him… and he did not know me. I do not blame him, if he wanted to have nothing to do with me, however, I saw him slaughter a family. I simply want answers, that is why I agreed to help Marta, and now Emil, on their quest. However, if Emil thinks he will lay a finger on him, I will destroy him before he can take a step."

"_You… really love your son, don't you? You would do anything for him, even if it means destroying your friend…"_

"I owe my life to my son, he is the reason that I live, the only thing that I have to remind me of Anna, the only thing that I have even given life to that is worth-while."

"_You know what bugs me about you? You don't give yourself any credit. If this Lloyd guy is as great as you say, I mean, everyone says that he saved the world, right? And wasn't there are Kratos Aurion in the group? Well, that would be you if I know _anything._ But, then again, according to, like, everyone, I _don't_ know anything, so don't take it from me. But everyone is worth something, you've saved Emil and Marta so many times, you've kept the peace, you're figured out puzzles and everyone here needs you. A lot. I can't speak for your son, but I don't think that he'd like hearing you talking like that."_

"You sound exactly like him. If I didn't know any better, I would say you were Lloyd."

"_If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were the Kratos from that book, but he's dead."_

"Hmm..."

"_Yup."_

Suddenly a scream ripped from Emil's thought, it rang in Kratos' ears, the monsters awoke with jumps, and cries as Emil leapt from the nest he had made. Lithos was looking around from the source of Emil's discomfort and Valkie hugged Emil tightly as tears streamed down the young boy's face.

"Emil," Kratos was kneeling next to the fabric and feather ball that was Emil and Valkie in a split second, faster than he should have been. "are you alright? I was only a dream, get a grip on yourself."

There was a pounding on the door and Marta's voice echoed into the room. "Are you guys okay? Let me in! Emil, Emil!"

She was ignored as Emil tried to get a hold of himself; taking deep breaths to force the sobs down. "I-I'm…" breath, "sorry, I-," gasped sob, "I-it was a d-," deep breath, "-ream. J-just a dream. L-let Marta in, please." He turned away from the door, presumably wiping away his tears as Marta, now allowed it, burst through the door in an over-large white night-gown.

"Emil, oh Emil, are you OK? What happened? Were you attacked, no one can take on you, don't worry!"

"I-It was just a dream Marta, I'm fine, really."

"Oh, Emil!" Marta flung her arms around Valkie and Emil creating a very awkward little group hug.

"Sir," Kratos turned to seen the manager and a group of angry looking inn residence at the door. "is there a problem?"

"I apologize," Kratos stepped in front of the door, blocking Marta, Emil, and the monsters from view, "simply a bad dream, it will not happen again."

"It better damn not," hissed one of the customers behind them.

"I won't kick you out, it's the middle of the night and you're watching children, but I'll have to if you let this happen again."

"We will leave in the morning, it will not happen again. Thank you for your understanding."

"Yeah, whatever, and keep the girl down too."

Kratos closed the door in the other man's face and turned back to his charges who had moved to the bed where Emil was assuring Marta that he was fine.

"-seriously, Marta, I'll be okay, just a bad dream."

"Why don't you tell us what it was about, it may help."

"O-okay…" Emil looked embarrassed. "I-it was Richter-."

"I would be screaming too if he was in _my_ dreams," said Marta jokingly, trying to lighten up the mood.

"-and he was trying to kill me…"

The statement was followed by silence as the grotesque reality of what Emil had been forced to endure sunk in.

"Richter… I thought you liked him, why would you be dreaming of him killing you?"

"I don't know! Richter's such a nice guy, why would he do that?"

Kratos and Marta exchanged a look, they had yet to say anything about Richter's involvement in the Vanguard.

"I-I think that I just need some sleep. See you in the morning Marta."

"Good night Emil, my Prince. 'Night Kratos and Tenebrae and monsters."

"Good night Lady Marta."

"Good night Marta," a moment after the door shut Kratos muttered, "I feel underappreciated."

"He he, she means the best, I'm sure. G'nigh Kratos, sleep well."

"And yourself."

Moments later, the sound of soft breaths signifying Emil's descent into sleep had begun and Valkie and Lithos, both still slightly shaken, joined their master in bed.

"_See,"_ Lloyd's voice came from the bed, _"now try to imagine the kid getting though that without you here to scare away the "monsters"."_ The chimera smirked, and Kratos could have sworn he'd seen a similar look in Lloyden's eye's once upon a time…

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**I think I should be given props for that one, I've been having über writer's block for the past week and that chapter actually made me happy. **

**Another person who should be given quite a bit of credit (besides Rouge) should be Shadow of Undine. They've been giving me a **_**ton**_** of input, so Danke!**

**Well, R&R for updates. The only reason you're getting this constantly is because I'm getting such great feedback, and I love every one of my reviewers. Ask any of my friends or family and they will tell you that I jump up and down and run around my house screaming why I get a good review. I love you people, dearly not queerly. **

**~Yoshi**


	20. In Which They Reach Palmacosta

**Oh Gods, here we go again…**

**The finishing of Hakonesia Peak and the arrival in Palmacosta. **

**Oh, and Koton bugs me so I'm going to graze a bit over their conversation with him, it'll all be there, but just ignore the fact that there isn't actually any dialogue. **

**A few things that I think are confusing people; I hadn't realized this was a problem… oops!**

**First: LK is Lord Kratos. Second: Lloyd does not honestly believe that Kratos is dead, they, meaning the Chosen's Group, needed to put him in the documentary, and they can't say "and they Kratos turned out to be a traitor and went off with the evil Cruxis Angels" now can they? Thirdly: Lloyd is still in denial. It happens, he almost doesn't **_**want**_** to believe it's Kratos. **

**That's all I think, if you have any more questions put them in a review and I answer them next week with the update.**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi doesn't own squat.**

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In this world, or so it was Kratos' opinion, there was only one person worse than Yggdrasill (who was above Kvar by only one spot) and his name was Koton. He rubbed elbows with thieves and traders alike in order to get the rarest and most valuable treasures on the planet. Most of the artifacts that had been taken from tombs and even the Tower of Mana, when it had still been standing, had ended up in this man's house.

Kratos had thought he had had enough of him on the Journey of Regeneration when they had bribed and begged him to let them look at the Book of Spiritua. Of course, about the time they were able to finally see it, it proved to be useless and they were forced to "find" the seals on their own anyway. Kratos had wanted to skin the bastard then, but the Chosen and Raine would not hear of it. So off they went to the House of Salvation to find the Spiritua figurine, and off across the world looking for what the Priests had dropped to get that damn book, only to find it completely useless.

All thanks to Koton and the fake Chosen's group.

Kratos cursed whatever Gods had found it funny to return him back here again. Emil and Marta had wanted to visit the infamous yard of the man who held the Book of Spiritua, and they had found the owner himself standing outside his home muttering about, of all things, Richter.

Emil and Marta had poked and pried and found that Koton had, and this did not surprise Kratos in the least, a deal: Koton would trade Richter the Spiritual Tome (A.N. I _think_ that's what it was…) for the Balacruf Tomb Stone. That, however, was all that he would say for after they had extracted that much, he had noticed how flat-chested Marta was and had shooed the away.

"I wonder why Richter wants the Spiritual Tome…" mused Emil as they walked away from the peak in the direction of Palmacosta.

"Who knows?" Marta sighed, "Why does Richter want anything?"

"I agree, for now, at least, there is nothing we can do so we may as well leave it until it presents a threat," Tenebrae entered the conversation, he and the other monsters happy to be visible again.

"_Spiritual Tome, what's that?"_

"An artifact of Spiritua, one of the Chosens of the Church," Kratos answered Sophie's question.

"Not just _one_ of the Chosens, Kratos, the _first_ Chosen!" corrected Marta.

"Actually," Kratos retorted, "that is a common misconception, she was the last successful regeneration of Sylvarant before it went into a seven hundred year decline. After her regeneration, the Sylvarant Dynasty was formed and it is said that the _Cru de Ohra_, the Angel of Death, descended on the foolish humans whom created it. It was destroyed because the humans had turned their backs on the Goddess Martel."

"R-really?" Emil paled, "The _Cru de Ohra_ guy sounds scary! I wouldn't want to meet him!"

Kratos chucked darkly.

………………

Palmacosta was beautiful and bustling when, a week and a half later, Marta, Emil, Kratos, Tenebrae, and the seven monsters arrived. The shore was bright and there was no sign of the winter storms that raged miles above on the Asgard Plateau. The sun shone and the sky was a soft blue that matched the ocean perfectly. Palmacosta was the largest city in Sylvarant and it showed, there were dozens of inns several stories high, large shops and a sprawling market-place with hundreds of wears ranging from swords to ribbons to the day's freshest catch.

When Palmacosta had been destroyed by the out-of-control giant Kharlan Tree, the entire city had been tossed into the sea that had provided for it for so long. What with most of the city being located on docks that reached out into the sea, it was all too easy for the roots to break the supports and send the town plummeting into the sea.

Despite the beauty of the city, however great it was, Palmacosta was known for its militia during the time of the separation of the worlds and the Desians. What with a Ranch mere miles up the road from the city, it had to be on constant guard. When Governor-General Dorr had betrayed the city and been found out to have being working with Magnius, the Desian Grand Cardinal of the Palmacosta Ranch, the Chosen's Group, including Kratos himself, took him down and Neil had been put in charge. Neil, unfortunately, had perished in the rampage of the Giant Tree. Now Mrs. Governor-General Dorr was in charge of the rebuilt town.

"Wow, can you believe it's been six months since the last time we were here?" whispered Marta.

"Really?" Emil looked shocked, "I hadn't even realized it's been that long!"

"Yes…" Where _had _the time gone? He had already been on the world a full six months and yet… and he had yet to meet Lloyd on any sort of friendly basis.

"Well, what are our plans?" Tenebrae's disembodied voice echoed around the two Knights and Marta.

"I was thinking that we could split up and look for a boat," said Marta, "We shouldn't stay here too long, not if the Vanguard are waiting for us. So, if we split up, we'll be able to cover more ground."

"Marta, I'm not sure that's such a great idea, I mean, what if one of us meets Alice?"

"Emil, if you're worried you can take Tenebrae!"

"I-I'm more worried about _you,_ Marta."

"Oh, Emil, my Prince!" Marta flung her arms around the younger Knight's neck and attempted to kiss him. Several passerby's stared.

"Marta, this is not the time or place to be making a fool of yourself," Kratos growled. "We'll split up; Emil, you take Tenebrae and send Isho with Marta. Marta you take Eon and Isho, and _be careful._ I'll go toward the market and take Lloyd, Sophie, and Nero. Don't draw too much attention to yourselves."

"Kratos, we'll meet at the pub later!" called Marta, Kratos raised his hand to show that he had heard.

With Sophie, Lloyd, and Nero behind him, Kratos set out across the sprawling market place.

"_Wow, this place is huge!"_

"_I'll say, I bet you could find anything here!"_

"_It's scary…"_

"_Calm down Soph, I promise, we'll take care of you."_

Were monsters always this chatty?

………………

The single most disturbing thing about being a monster, at least Lloyd thought, was the fact that everything changed perspective. Small children were suddenly a big threat, pulling on his tale, ears, even wings… It was strange, having his wings out all the time. They were not exactly _his _wings per-say, actually, they were useless if one wanted to fly, but the extra appendages were weirdly natural. Like a third arm: totally alien, but he was instantly comfortable with them.

Of course, getting used to a new body was the least of Lloyd's problems; the greater issue was, as it should be, _how the hell did he end up like this? _Whatever had happened, he knew, 1) Sophie was involved, 2) no one could tell who he was, other than the alraune herself, 3) however he had changed, it had been instantaneous, at least that's what he _thought_ the professor would call it… and 4) he had no clue how to turn back.

Oh, there was no denying that life as a monster, a cat with wings none-the-less, was freaky. Freaky was a good word for it. He could still eat all the food that Kratos made for them, Sophie, Nero, Eon, and Emil's pets all could eat the human food, so too could Lloyd. Then there were the impulses, which, according to the imp and alraune, were not nearly as bad as they had been before the pact making. Lloyd had the feeling that if it were not for the nearly instantaneous pact making, he would still have been wandering around in blind panic. Or dead. Dead was always an option.

And, of course, the most interesting of facts, other than the meta-synthesis (or was it meta_morphosis?_), was the merc. He was so like the Kratos that Lloyd had know and, despite everything, loved, that under any other circumstances he would have been totally convinced that dad had returned from Derris Kharlan. That, however, was impossible. The way that he handled situations was a bit less cold; he was more talkative, friendlier. Even with Marta, who was just annoying in Lloyd's book, was he patient and kindly. Not very Kratos-y, but, then again, Lloyd himself had been just as immature at the beginning of the World Regeneration journey and yet Kratos had taken to him… but they were blood. That was probably the difference.

Then just who was the man? He knew too much, that much was true, he also, from the conversations they had had, stood in a similar position as his father when it came to children. What was he saying? There was only one way that that story could have come out: he was Kratos. No one, not in one book, interview, or conversation had ever mentioned anything incriminating, besides the Pope, about the Church. So how could he have known? The simple answer was the positive.

Okay, so let's say this guy _is_ dad, how did he get back? And what's with no one recognizing him, why didn't he come and find Lloyd, himself, in the first place? Why join the enemy side instead of his own son…? There were too many questions, not enough answers.

"Lloyd, is you okay?"

"W-wha? Oh, yeah, I was just thinking."

The monsters were outside a little shop in Palmacosta, they had followed _LK,_ as Nero affectionately referred to the merc, through the widespread market as he had asked questions, and they had turned up no sign of Lloyd or anyone who was willing to take them over to Izoold. The shop they were outside had a large sign that struck Lloyd as vaguely familiar but he passed it off as it being Palmacosta and he had been there a thousand times in the past two years.

"I wonder what's taken LK, he usually doesn't take this long." Nero looked bored, "This search and find thing is crap."

"Nero, we need a boat, and this is the only way to get one." Lloyd rolled his eyes at the imp.

"Oh, shut up Lloyd, no one asked you!"

"I wonder what it's like on a boat…" Sophie's eyes glittered at the prospect.

"It's cool, kinda' rocky, but as long as you're not on for too long it's really not that bad." Both of the girls were looking at him in interest.

"You've been on a boat?" Sophie looked fascinated.

"Soph, think about it, what's a chimera doing on this continent? He was probably taken over here by some misguided idiot."

"O-oh, yeah, th-that's right…"

Lloyd looked away; this was why he needed to get his old body back; there were too many questions, too much that they did not know. Only Sophie even know the truth about him and she was almost totally useless.

The door opening distracted the three little creatures from their conversation as they looked up to see Kratos.

"Any luck?"

"_Not a bit, it seems that there are storms far out at sea and no fisherman is willing to try and cross as of right now."_

"No boat?" Sophie asked sadly.

"_None whatsoever. My apologies for taking so long, I once knew the owners and we talked for awhile."_

Suddenly Lloyd knew why the shop looked familiar: it was the Item Shop Marble! That was more evidence in the man's favor… damn, could it be true? Lloyd barely dared to hope.

"So what's next?" he asked.

"_I think it would be best if we try to find Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and the others. We should report what we know. That, and I am rather concerned about leaving them alone for so long."_

"That's probably a good idea," agreed Nero, "There's no way the Toad could help Marta if she got inta' any real trouble, and I'd say that Alice chick qualifies as real."

"Alice?" All Lloyd knew was that she was supposedly setting a trap for them in Palmacosta. He did not even know what she looked like; it was hard to see out of Tenebrae's "veil of darkness" that they had to hide in public places. Actually, the only reason that they were allowed to show themselves was because they were splitting up and as of the moment, they needed as much protection as possible.

"She's a scary Vanguard girl. Her monsters is creepy."

"_Are, Sophie."_

"Her monsters _are_ creepy."

"Yeah, they don't talk at all, I don't think she makes pacts with them, she forces them under her control."

"She does sound kind of scary."

Like the kind of person you did not want to meet in a dark ally.

………………

"You're not gunna' find a boat with the way the weather's been out at sea lately; no man'd sail in that kinda' storm."

The fisherman had interrupted Kratos mid-word as he had begun to explain the situation to the children as they sat at a table in the pub. Emil and Marta both looked greatly disheartened.

"I guess it wasn't worth coming here in the first place…" Marta looked depressed that her insistence at coming and putting them in danger had amounted to nothing.

"If'n you be wante'n a way across the sea, I'd check wi'th Mrs. Gov'ner General Dorr. She'd be able to set you up right."

"Yes, that might be for the best," murmured Kratos, "at this point we seem to lack an alternative."

"Yeah…" Emil looked distracted, Kratos eyed him strangely as did Marta.

"Thanks for your help mister." She turned to Emil looking concerned, "Emil, are you okay, you don't look so great, did you have another dream?"

How it could be that Marta would assume that Emil could have fallen asleep and had another dream all in the past two hours while they were all on high alert was beyond Kratos, however, he had to agree that the child did not look well.

"D-don't worry about it, i-it's nothing…"

"Emil, that kind of answer will get you nowhere," Tenebrae's voice whispered around them.

"W-well… I met Richter and the Sadist and, and… Why didn't you tell me Richter was with the Vanguard?!" Emil had tears in his eyes and looked genuinely hurt. "If I'm going to protect Marta then I need to know the enemy!"

Kratos and Marta exchanged guilty looks, there had been a lot that they had yet to tell Emil, things like Kratos being Lloyd's father, Marta's origins, _his own_ fate had been kept from him, and a dozen other things that he should know, but didn't.

"Emil," murmured Kratos, "I fear we have told you less than you know…"

………………

Lloyd was not listening to the humans' conversation as they sat in Palmacosta's pub; instead, he and Sophie were whispering together in hushed tones while the others paid attention to their masters.

"So, what are you thinking, how'd I get stuck like this?"

"How is I supposed to know?" snapped the Alraune, "The only magic I knows is monster magics and Master Kratos and Lord Tenebrae's! And that is not you's problem. That is not monster magics."

"Uhh, this is bad. And LK is right, you need to work on your grammar. I swear, what do you have against the word "are"?"

"Shut up, meanie! I _am_ trying to help you!"

"There, see, what that so hard?"

"Stop teasing me!" squeaked the little creature, looking harassed, "You's so mean sometimes!"

"I'm sorry Sophie, I guess I'm just a little stressed out, I mean, I _did_ just get turned into a monster by some unknown force. If you turned into a human and did't know what happened, you be a little freaked too. LK would spaz too… oh, dammit!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"Yuan, I haven't even thought about that, I've been gone for weeks, he's probably freaking out!"

"You mean the blue haired tipsy-man?"

"You know him?"

"We met him in Asgard, it was kinda' really weird, I mean, first he know Master Kratos and then he took a nap and he started freaking out! He's strange…"

"That sounds like him. Yuan's my uncle, I've been hanging out with him since Dad left… I visit him every few weeks with news, I hadn't even thought about how worried he'd be."

"How do you forgets somethin' like that?"

Lloyd made a groan-like sound in the back of his throat and his wings drooped a bit. "He's just not the person who let's all his emotions out, we've been working on it, but I guess I forget that he _does_ care."

"He must be nice when he's not freaking out at you."

"Freaking out is the least of your worries when he's around; he's also bipolar, depressive, suicidal, schizophrenic, treacherous, senile, and he's got a drinking problem. So, yeah, I'd say he's pretty nice if he's not freaking."

"It's pretty irresponsible for Master Kratos to leave you with him!"

"Tell me about it!"

"_So, let's go talk to Mrs. Dorr, perhaps we can find a boat there."_ Kratos' voice cut across their conversation.

"I guess we're going," said Sophie.

"Off to save the world, one town at a time." Sarcasm dripped from Lloyd's tone, but there was an undertone of something else, a slightly envious something else.

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**SUCCESS!!**

**There's your chapter twenty. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	21. In Which Zelos Enters the Plot

**Chapter twenty-one. This fic can now legally drink. **

**A bit more Palmacosta, then we'll get them out of there. I so cannot wait for Iselia, that's going to be so fun to write. **

**Oh, and I've made Clara just a pinch air-headed, honestly that's just how she's coming out. Don't worry, you only have to put up with her for a while.**

**Oh yeah and ZELOS!!! Ich liebe dich Zelos-sama! Japanese and German, oh, what now?**

**I have seen fit to excessively describe exactly why everyone thinks that Kratos is "dead". Here, now it will all make more sense. I hope.**

**When Lloyd and the others were being interviewed about their Journey, for books and the like, Lloyd had decided that no one was going to know about Cruxis or the Church being "evil" so they came up with this fabricated tale about how they were told by the angel Remiel to go to Tethe'alla and make pacts with all of the Summons Spirits and finally gain the power of the Eternal Sword, yada, yada, and the world was saved!!! But if Cruxis wasn't evil then how do you explain Kratos going over to the angel's side if they (meaning the angels and the Chosen's group) are on the same side? Simple, you don't. They kept Kratos in the party after he would have supposedly left, so he was there, granted more quietly then he was for the first half of the journey, but he was there. Then there was his mysterious disappearance at the end of the journey. Well Lloyd isn't gonna' be all "and then I sent him to Derris Kharlan to pay for his sins". That just wouldn't work, would it? So they said that he'd died. That's why the general public isn't all "hey you remind me of that one guy on the Chosen's journey!" Cause they're being respectful to Krattie's memory.**

That is the story. So, I hope it makes more sense now. The reason that everyone, including Lloyd don't want to belive that Kratos is Kratos is because of the mysterious force that is screwing with everyone's heads. It isn't just "Kratos returning to Symphonia from Derris Kharlan screwed with everyone's heads". No there's something else that is working behind all of this. I'm just not gonna tell you what it is yet.

As for Yuan... He's just special. All will be explained in time, Yoshi swears.

**FRIGGIN' LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Tales of Symphonia, Lloyd would still be the main character. So, quite obviously, I don't.**

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Kratos, Marta, Emil, Tenebrae, and the monsters wandered back toward the main square of Palmacosta where the government building was located. After being directed to Mrs. Governor-General Dorr, both Kratos and, to his surprise, Marta looked uneasy. Although that may have had to do with how angry Emil was with the two of them. After telling him _everything _at the pub, he was now as caught up as Marta on Kratos.

Marta, however, had refused to say anything about her own origins. Now Emil was acting rather cold to Kratos. Of course, he could hardly blame the young Knight; Lloyd was viewed as the enemy, the very hated enemy.

The main square of the Seaside City was bustling when they reached it. Quickly locating the government building, the hurried to get out of the view of the public; who know who was hiding in the crowds…

"Oh, hello, can I help you?" Clara Dorr was sitting behind her desk when the trio entered. Her blond hair was pulled into a messy bun and her green dress was slightly rumpled; running the biggest city in Sylvarant was obviously taking its toll on the woman. Kratos remember the time when the Desians had captured her and turned her into a monster using a demon seed. Dorr, her husband had made a deal with the Palmacosta Ranch, insuring that the Palmacosta militia would be useless against their forces; every penny that the Palmacosta people gave was also given to them.

In return the Desians would return his wife, the woman standing before them, to her original, human form. Cracking under the stress, Dorr did not even notice when his daughter was replaced with a half-elf sent by Pronyma to keep an eye on them. When the Chosen's group was asked by Dorr to help destroy the Palmacosta Ranch, Colette and Lloyd had jumped at the thought of helping. It was, however, a trap and Neil, the assistant at the time, had found out about the plan and warned them before they were killed.

Returning to Palmacosta, they had witnessed Dorr speaking to a Desian underling, and put, as Lloyd had so aptly put it, the "squeeze" on him. However, as they were getting him on their side, the monster that replaced his child stepped forward and killed him. They destroyed her; however, they were too late to save the Governor-General himself. Clara was released; still a monster, and she wandered Sylvarant for many months before they were able to finally save her.

And then Palmacosta was destroyed.

Neil, who had taken control of the city, was killed in the attack of the Giant Kharlan Tree, and so, Clara had taken control. The people had still not been told of their beloved leader's treachery. Kratos felt that it was his fault, so when they stepped into the office to see her working so hard, he understood why the feeling of guilt settled in his stomach: she had lost everything because of what the Desians and Cruxis had done to her.

What he could not _really_ understand was Marta's discomfort. It, however, lasted only a moment before she was back to her annoyingly cheery self.

"Mrs. Dorr? It's Marta Lualdi, Emil Castagnier, and Kratos Aurion, we're wondering if you could help us."

"Well, if it isn't Marta, and… my goodness, Emil? Has it only been six months? You've changed so much! You really don't look a thing like you used to! My goodness, they say the memory is the second thing to go!" She smiled breezily.

"What's the first?" Emil looked curious.

"Why, I don't seem to remember!" She started laughing. "Now, you're Kratos Aurion you say? Like the hero? Well, you look nothing like him, but you're lucky to have his name-sake. I met him once, you know. Back when he was traveling with the Chosen's group, they saved me from the Desians."

"…" Kratos did not meet her eyes, "…Yes, I do believe I have heard that story."

"Haha, now, what can I do for you?"

"We need a boat, we've talked to almost everyone in Palmacosta and they say they can't. We were told to come to you."

"Well, dear, I wish you could help you, however, as you've probably already heard, there are terrible storms out at sea, and I'm afraid that no man wants to try to sail through it! I wish I could help but… oh, wait! Emil, dear, do you remember Thomas? He lived next to your family before the Blood Purge." Emil looked blank for a moment but Clara just continued her ramble, "Well, he burst in here earlier, babbling something about fish and knowing what was causing the storm. Remora I think it was. He went to the Dynasty Ruins I do believe. He'll take care of the problem… I think."

"The Dynasty Ruins?!" cried Marta, "But that's really dangerous, he probably needs help!"

"Well, we can't afford to send anyone after him, don't worry Marta dear, he can fend for himself."

"No!" Emil looked worried, "We can't just leave him to fend for himself! We need to go after him, if he isn't back yet…"

"Yeah, Emil's right, we have to after him!"

"Children, the Dynasty Ruins are dangerous, there are monsters there, just let the grown-ups take care of it, these storms can't last forever, and then you'll be able to sail wherever you want. Just please-."

"_Kratos_ you're not gunna' let Thomas just wander off to the Dynasty Ruins by himself, are you? That's our ticket out of here and he could be hurt!" Marta cried at Kratos, outraged.

"Mr. Aurion, you're not going to drag them into the Ruins, really, how irresponsible!"

"Marta, Emil, it's late, we should not partake in anything until tomorrow if we do anything, so perhaps we can stay here the night and sleep on it-."

"No, we _have_ to save Thomas!" Emil's eyes flashed red, "Please Kratos, let us go after him!"

"Emil, we do not even know if he is in any danger!" Kratos glared at the boy who, surprisingly, did not flinch. "We should not jump into things; we're in enough trouble without adding this as well!"

"No. Kratos, trust me, I think we need to go. Thomas isn't a fighter. Please, we have to help him."

Kratos looked at the young Knight; was it just him, or was he really getting more confident? The flash of his eyes unnerved him; however, the way he spoke made him wonder…

"Fine."

"What?"

"What?!"

"Really?"

"Yes. Emil, if you truly believe that he is in danger, that it is better than staying here."

"You cannot seriously be planning on taking _children_ into the Dynasty Ruins!"

"Mrs. Governor-General Dorr, I can assure you that I am perfectly serious about his situation."

"That's ludicrous!"

"Enough things in this world are ludicrous; therefore, it should come as no surprise that my decision should follow the trend."

It was then that Emil started clapping and Marta hugged him. There was also a suspiciously Tenebrae-sounding laugh that echoed around them.

"Well," huffed the woman, "I guess there's no dissuading you, but don't say I didn't warn you!"

"We'll take your thoughts into consideration!" called Emil as the party exited the building.

"Goodbye and good luck!" and then she was out of sight and they were out in the square-

-And Richter was upon them.

He appeared from seemingly nowhere; leaping at Marta. There was only a moment to act, and Emil was blocking his sword, eyes flashing red, inches from the girl's neck and Kratos had his sword around the other man's neck.

"Dammit!" hissed Richter. "Emil, get out of the way! You're protecting her?"

"Oh, Emil, my savior…"

"I-I made a pact, a pact borrow Ratatosk's power so I would be able to protect Marta! So… so I'm not going to let anyone hurt her… even you!"

"You actually made a pact with Ratatosk? You fool!"

"Richter, why are you doing this?!"

"The why is none of your concern!" Richter twisted his way from Kratos' grip, the Seraph letting him go, and turned back, attacking Marta from a different angle. Emil blocked him. Richter dogged Kratos' next attack and jumped back, preparing to charge again.

From nowhere, a sword came flying through the air toward Richter. The attack was deflected, but it left him looking surprised, angry, and searching for his attacker.

"Oops, musta' slipped," the cocky voice of, much to Kratos' horror, Zelos Wilder, echoed from beside the government building. "But, then again, maybe it's a good thing it did; apparently you need to learn how to treat beautiful ladies."

The Chosen of Tethe'alla walked casually down the stairs towards the small group, he walked over toward where his sword was embedded in the cobblestones that made up Palmacosta's walkways and pulled it out effortlessly. Apparently both of the Chosens were still using their Cruxis Crystals.

"Who's he?" whispered Emil under his breath.

Kratos mentally groaned, the overly cocky, irritating, ladies' man had never made it to the top of his favorite Chosens list. When the man had been playing double agent, a foot in Cruxis, the Renegades, and the Chosen's group, he had disgusted Kratos even more.

Despite this fact, not only was Zelos willing and able to help Kratos obtain everything needed to make Lloyd the ring of the pact, but also Lloyd seemed strangely fond of him. Zelos had proven himself to be kind, honest, and trustworthy. That did not, however, make Kratos dislike him any less.

"Hello little Princess, are you alright?" Zelos took her hand and spun Marta into his arms. The girl looked slightly dazed. "And may I ask your name?"

"M-Marta…" her cheeks were glowing red.

Emil looked disgusted, shocked, horrified, and, above all, really, really pissed.

"Wait a minute, aren't you…?" Richter was watching Zelos with a mix of emotions on his face.

"Well hello there, I don't know who you are, and normally I could care less about some guy knowing who I am, but one thing's for sure: you need to learn how to properly treat a lady."

Emil's jaw hit the floor and Kratos face-palmed. Zelos had not changed.

"Now, I think it would be in your best interest to skedaddle now, 'cause I don't think you wanna' go up against me, the kid, and the big guy, he looks like he could pack a punch."

"No thanks," Richter's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You three are not my concern. Emil, you shouldn't get tangled up in all of this, just leave now before you get hurt, and Alice is plotting something, be careful." And with oh-so-friendly warning Richter left, looking haughty and slightly embarrassed.

"T-thank you so much for saving me just now! What was your name?"

"Why, I am the great Zelos Wilder, my dear! Look, kiddies, I would love to stand here and trade names and numbers, but I've got an appointment with the Governor-General."

Zelos grabbed Marta's hand and brushed his lips along it, smirking, winked and walked away looking as full of himself as ever. Marta just stood there, eyes wide, hand still in the air, staring.

"M-Marta…?" Emil asked. "Marta!"

"O-oh, Emil, who _was_ that guy?"

"I don't know…"

"That was Zelos Wilder, Chosen of Tethe'alla. I can see he hasn't changed much."

"_He's_ the Chosen?" Emil's eyes grew wide, "But, wait, how do you-? Oh, right, the journey…"

"I wonder what someone like the Chosen of Tethe'alla is doing in Sylvarant, I mean this _is_ Palmacosta, but he's the Chosen…"

"From what I've heard, Zelos is in charge of much of the King's Sylvarant-related business."

"Oh…" Emil turned back to the government building, "I don't like him."

Kratos chuckled, "No, I don't think many do."

"Well, he's charming enough." Marta, too, was gazing after the Chosen, but with a different look in her eyes than Emil, a very different look…

"Mar-_ta,_ don't tell me you actually fell for that guy?!"

"W-what, oh Emil, don't you know that you're the only one for me?"

"M-Marta, I-."

"Shouldn't we be going? I thought Thomas was in danger?" Tenebrae's voice echoed around them, a whisper on the wind that only the three select mortals could hear.

"I agree with Tenebrae, we should be going." Kratos lead the way away from town.

………………

_Zelos,_ thought Lloyd to himself as he walked in the Centurion's shadow, _what are you doing here? _

It had been a long time since he had seen any of his old friends, and seeing Zelos had put another lump in his throat: would he ever be recognized by any of his friends? Colette, Zelos, Raine, or… Kratos?

Kratos, could it be that he _was_ his father? But why didn't Kratos recognize him? Why had Lloyd himself not known his father? There were too many unanswered questions; too many things that Lloyd still had to do. And a fear. A fear that the second Lloyd acknowledged his father, he would vanish as he had last time. Disappear, and this time never return.

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**HA! NOW THINGS ARE GETTING INTERESTING!!!**

**Shadow, I hope that worked a little better for you.**

**Short chapter this time, but I liked the ending. Next chapter will be the Dynasty Ruins; I'm gonna' make sure it doesn't turn out as craptacular as the last dungeon chapters. I absolutely **_**abhor**_** those chapters.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi **


	22. In Which They Reach the Dynasty

**Hope this doesn't go up in smoke.**

**I **_**do**_** have a pretty good reason for not updating quite on time last week; my beta got really sick and she couldn't edit. You do not to see these things without her looking through them.**

**Great, dungeon chapter… I promise this one won't be nearly as bad as the last one, there was just too much to fit in last time. So, here goes nothing!**

_A word on the Sylvarant Dynasty: I think of this like that tower in the Bible… the name escapes me-I _think_ it's The Tower of Babylon- the one where the people built the huge tower to show how amazing they were and then God got ticked and destroyed the tower and made everyone speak in different languages… that one. You see, I don't think that there would have been only seven Chosen since the beginning of Cruxis, honestly, four thousand years would produce more than that, so I think Colette is the seventh since Sylvarant went into the "perpetual" decline. Spiritua was the last successful regeneration; she was just used as an icon. The People wouldn't need to cling to the church because of the mana coming back, so, the people would have lost their faith in the Goddess Martel and Yggy would have sent his faithful lapdog: Kratos. Etc. Etc. Hence the destruction of the Sylvarant Dynasty by the Angels of Cruxis._

**Disclaimer: Guess what I got for my birthday…! NOT TALES OF SYMPHONIA! It's still not mine.**

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The Dynasty Ruins were proof that Kratos had excelled at this job as Angel of Death before Anna had come along. The huge pillars that held the ceiling of the underground city from collapsing in were cracked and had even caved in around them. The murals that depicted the great accomplishments of man were cracked and shattered; the vibrant tiles faded. The pathways that lead the way deeper into the ruins were collapsed in some places and half-sunk in others, though the place was still maneuverable.

This, however, was hardly what the Knights were focused on, as, upon ascending the first flight of stairs, the found Thomas. The man was sprawled, injured and half-conscious, on the stones that made up the upper floors. Around him were fish, remoras, if Kratos was right…

"Thomas! Thomas, it's me, Emil, are you alright?!"

"E-Emil?"

"Lana and Raysol's son!"

"W-what? Y-you ca-ah-n't be!"

"Here, let us help you." Marta looked concerned, "What happened?"

"I-I was a-attacked by m-monsters, I c-came here because I-I figured out w-why… the storms. Remora aren't s-'sposed to b-be here…" Thomas's eyes closed and the man slipped into unconsciousness.

"Thomas?!"

"It's alright Emil," murmured Kratos feeling for the other man's pulse, "He is merely exhausted, if we get him out of here, he should be fine."

"Right, then let's-."

"You're not going anywhere Little Pet!" crowed a voice from the shadows. Emil and Marta both jumped and Kratos spun around, pulling out his sword as he did so. Alice was riding on the back of a large monster, it was lion-like with a large purple mane and magenta pelt, toward them, her small squirrel-like 'pet' followed behind her.

"Ohh, Krattie-kins! You really didn't have to change just for _me._ But you look sexy as usual!"

"_Damn, you were right, chick's scary!"_ growled Lloyd behind them.

"_You've got no friggin' clue."_ Chuckled Nero.

"Alice, what are you doing here?" demanded Marta.

"Mart-mart, stop asking stupid questions, it's very unbecoming. I'm here to get rid of the two of you. Krattie-kins, I wouldn't have to dispose of you if you would join the Vanguard. Come on, _please._" Alice smirked.

_Ironic,_ thought Kratos somewhere in the back of his head, _seeing as I helped start the damn Church of Martel._

"Well, what's it gonna' be?" Alice's grin widened showing a hint of snaggletooth.

"It seems unlikely that I would change my ways now, does it not?"

"Hmm, your loss Krattie. Moving on, Mart-mart, you hand over Ratatosk's Core or I'll take it by force. I don't think Commander Brute will mind you dying too much as long as I get Ratatosk!"

"I-I won't let you touch Marta!" cried Emil.

"The little pet has a bark!" Alice's trilling giggle echoed around the wet, empty halls. "How cute Mart-mart, you've got a _fan._"

"If you are about done," hissed Kratos.

"True, true, this conversation is going in circles." Alice eyed him one last time. "You're in luck today, I've sent Hawkie to Asgard, so I'll be taking care of you myself!" The girl charged.

As the monster underneath Alice charged forward, she jumped off and began chanting the words to an ice spell. Kratos mentally groaned, an ice mage in a place so full of water, like this, was asking for trouble. Kratos slipped around the charging beast and Lloyd and Nero followed while Sophie, Valkie, and Isho hung to the back, casting. Lithos and Eon were on the frontlines fighting back the Vanguard leader's other monster.

"Powers of frigid winter obey me, send you icy hands down and destroy mine enemies… Ice Tornado!"

Kratos was forced to dodge again as a blast of icy wind and frozen shards of water were blasted at him. Nero was caught in the blast, but was able to recover herself quickly enough. Lloyd leapt behind Alice and began blasting her back with fire. Kratos attacked from the front, she attempted, unsuccessfully, to fend him off. Deciding the fire was, for the moment, more annoying, she spun and her whip snapped at Lloyd who went flying into the wall, collapsing with a soft grunt.

"_Dad…"_

Kratos froze. Lloyd. He spun on Alice; anger surged in him as his long coat snapped around him. His eyes burned with a fury that could not be stopped. Alice took a staggered step back. He charged at her, slamming the hilt of his sword into the girl's head. With a soft sigh she slipped to the ground; dazed.

Kratos was at Lloyd's side by the time the Vanguard girl hit the ground, healing mana glistening in his hands. "Lloyd? Lloyd, are you alright?!" Kratos was panicking.

"_D-dad…?"_ Lloyd's eyes were glazed as he looked up at the angel. _"Dad."_

"I'm here now, don't worry, I've got you."

Suddenly he felt a vague, almost nonexistent pressure on the back of his head. His eyes blacked out for a moment, then he felt something warm and sticky on the back of his head. A soft ringing began in the back of his consciousness, he heard his name shouted from behind as, almost blind, he turned to see Alice with her hand raised, a knife grasped between her fingers, blood dripping from it. His blood.

It took Kratos but a moment to realize what had happened, he was attacking, blood still dripping from the wound in the back of his head, and Alice fell back with a screech.

"W-what are you?!" Her crystal eyes were wide as the blood figure that was Kratos loomed over her. "Y-you should be dead!"

She did not get a chance to say another word as Kratos slid his sword into the girl's shoulder. She cried out in pain as he tugged it out again, this time slamming it into her other shoulder. Alice was almost unconscious from pain and horror now. A third time Kratos tugged his sword and aimed, this time for her heart. Then he felt a hand on his elbow.

"Kratos," whispered Emil, "no, please, Lloyd'll be okay, don't kill her, please…"

Kratos moved back, sword still in hand, and sighed. Marta walked up next to him, carefully moving in his line of view so that he would know who it was and not attack. She rested her hands on the back of his head and summoned her healing mana. The cool feeling of a water-based healing spell washed over him and Kratos took a deep breath, recovering slightly from the blood-loss.

"Lloyd," he grunted, "Take…care of him."

"In a minute; you lost a lot of blood…" She said the words hesitantly, she was afraid of him. After another healing spell she rose and moved over to where the small chimera was laying where Kratos had left him.

_Lloyd, it's really you…_

"Here, Kratos, come over and lean against the wall." Emil's voice seemed to echo as if from far away. "Come on." His hands lead Kratos over to the far wall, the wound was healed, but the blood-loss would take more time to heal before he would be himself again.

"Here, Kratos, see? It's Lloyd, he's just fine. He'll be good as new in a few moments… focus on getting better." Marta held the small cat-like body of Lloyd up so that Kratos could see him properly.

"Ugh…" the sound of Alice regaining consciousness reached the ears of the three, turning to where the blond girl was lying, Kratos was able to focus enough to see Sophie and Nero, as well as the other four monsters were bent over the stirring form of Alice.

"_What should we do with her?"_ came Nero's voice across the wide passage.

"Marta, heal her enough so that she won't bleed to death," said Emil, suddenly taking charge, "Don't fix her so much that she attacks again though, even though we took out her pets, she's still pretty scary on her own."

"R-right, killing her is a bit harsh…"

Marta moved to where Alice's pale form was gasping for breath and began to cast minor healing spells on their victim. After a moment, just enough time for the wounds to seal up, Alice jumped to her feet.

"Don't touch me Mart-mart!"

"H-how can you say something like that?" demanded Emil, "She's trying to help you!"

"I don't want help from _anyone_ especially from the likes of you! Come, we're leaving." She beckoned to her monsters with the whip she had retrieved from the ground. A hiss came from Athos as it turned on its mistress, another growl rising in its throat. "W-what?" Alice looked confused, "Oh no, you broke the hypnoses!" Alice roared and turned to Marta looking murderous. "Why you little-!" She was cut off by Athos jumping on her and slicing at her already shredded clothes.

"Alice… has been controlling her monsters using hypnosis?" Emil looked shocked.

"Then this will be a fitting end for her, imagine, enslaving a once proud beast to do her bidding in such a way!" Tenebrae appeared, looking disgusted. "She deserves everything she gets."

"Bloodthirsty little critter, aren't you?" Zelos Wilder's voice echoed from much closer than it should have as he raced forward, slamming his own blade into the beast, it stopped attacking her and fell back, dead.

Alice's cold, gold eyes moved up to meet his bright blue and he smirked flirtatiously at her.

"Y-you're-!"

"Well hey there cutie-pie, you seem to have gotten yourself in over your head. How 'bout you run along and nobody spills any more blood. Whadaya say?"

"You're the Chosen of Tethe'alla," muttered Alice.

"That's right, scoot along, and I'll let you live, just get back to the Vanguard, okay sweetie?"

"Since you're kind enough to let me off, then I guess I'll just have to take you up on that offer…" Alice rose and, with what dignity she had left, winked and walked away, still managing to look dangerous and intimidating while bleeding from several places and a complete mess.

"Kitty, I really don't think you're supposed to _heal_ the enemy. That's the first rule in the "Zelos Handbook"," Zelos said, eyeing the retreating form of Alice.

"What're _you_ doing here?" demanded Emil coldly.

"I came to save your butt kid, I see that it wasn't you that needed saving though, sheesh, what'd you to that girl?"

"What's it to you?"

"So violent! This is the thanks that I get for saving you? Getting yelled at? Man, you people are harsh!"

"So you really are the Chosen of Tethe'alla then? So Kratos was right?"

"Kratos?" Zelos looked interested, "Kratos? What Kratos?"

"That would be me."

Everyone turned to where Kratos was sitting with Lloyd on his lap. Sophie, Eon, and Nero had joined him.

"Dude looks just like the old man, no freakin' way! Though the monsters do kinda' take away from the Kratosy-ness…" Everyone looked at Zelos and rolled their eyes, these things were getting far too common for them.

"Wait…" Emil had suddenly put two and two together and come up with a sum his did not particularly like. "You're one of Lloyd's old companions!"

Zelos turned to the blond Knight of Ratatosk and gave him a long stare.

"Where's Lloyd, please tell us if you know!" Emil looked suddenly very passionate.

"Why do you care, kiddies?"

Kratos grunted at the Chosen's insolence from the wall where he remained sitting.

"Fine! Kiddies and old man and weird monster thingy and little weird monster thingys!"

"Because he… That bastard killed my parents!"

"So it's about revenge then, right?"

"Lloyd is no more than a common thief; he stole an important jewel from us!"

Lloyd made an insulted grunting sound from the wall where he lay on Kratos' lap.

"Well, I don't have time for a bunch of ignorant kids like you!" hissed Zelos and he raised his hand dramatically and snapped once. From behind them, a group of Papal Knights surrounded Thomas and pulled him along between them, back toward the entrance. "Sorry, but I have nothing to say to people who swear revenge on my "bastard" friends!"

Zelos swooped dramatically from the room, following his soldiers.

"_I take offence to that,"_ muttered Lloyd from where he still lay.

"_I don't blame you for not liking that guy. He's a jerk."_

"_A friggin' sexy jerk…"_ muttered Nero.

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**Ehehehehehehehe… I love you Nero.**

**I'll finish the Dynasty next week. For now, I'm tired, and my brother is talking my ear off and I need to put him to bed. Happy Birthday Yoshi, you get to watch your little brother and clueless grandparents while your parents are on a **_**cruise.**_** Woot.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	23. In Which Their Thoughts are Heard

**Hooray for character building!!!!! **

**Alrighty then, here's to Green Day, Vampires, and Grandma's Carmel Rolls… to which this chapter is dedicated to. Most of this was written on the spot, so fear the random angst.**

**Disclaimer: No, I still don't have it…**

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Marta and Emil had decided, for Kratos' sake, to wait out the evening where they were. With their guardian still suffering from blood-loss, the children had felt it would be safer to let him rest instead of carry on with him unwell.

Marta, as well as Isho, Lithos, Nero, Valkie, and Eon, had spread out to keep watch while Emil remained with Kratos and made them lunch; that was the only reason that Marta had been allowed to leave their sight, food was necessary, and she would not be the one cooking.

The crackles of fire, as well as the dripping of water from the stone ceiling and the sizzling sausages Emil was making for their lunch were the only sounds that were made. Emil was stirring something that smelled delectable, though Kratos knew that the taste would be bland to him, he could still tell that the boy was a talented chef.

"…Kratos, how're you doing?" Emil glanced up from the frying pan to look concernedly at the elder Knight.

"I've… been better." Kratos voice dripped with sarcasm as he watched Emil's natural-seeming movements as he cooked a bit of meat.

"You still look awfully pale… here, eat this." Emil handed him a bit of the sausage and egg that he had been preparing. Kratos took the food and put it experimentally into his mouth, it was good, or rather, it would have been; warm and spicy, and he finished the bit of food and took another out of politeness. Emil watched his friend with satisfaction as a bit of color returned to his face.

"This is excellent; you are a very talented chef." The words sounded funny coming out of the elder man's mouth.

"Thanks… but it's nothing to yours!"

"Humph." Kratos took a deep breath and lay back, his eyes closed. Lloyd was curled next to his leg and Sophie rested her head on his leg, one arm around Lloyd's curled form.

Emil was always fascinated how Kratos, the cold, calculating mercenary, could turn into an affectionate, almost father-like, figure when he thought no one was looking. Between Richter, who Emil had looked up to since they had first met in Luin and who had warned them of Alice's attack in Palmacosta, and Kratos, who had helped Emil through the difficulties of protecting Marta, he was unsure of who he looked up to more.

Granted, Richter was a member of the Vanguard, but he had still helped Emil many times, and never had _really_ tried to hurt him. Sure, he was trying to hurt Marta, and Emil could never understand that, but maybe there was something that he did not know…

Kratos was Lloyd's father though! He had lied to Emil, and made Marta too! She and Tenebrae had known all along that Kratos was not telling the truth. All of them had not told the truth. It hurt Emil even more though that Kratos would think so lowly of his own son! Kratos knew that he, Emil, was out for revenge against Lloyd, and yet he had been helping him from the beginning! What kind of father would do that? Certainly not Emil's father…

Then again, what would Reysol have done if he had been in Kratos' place? Emil… did not know. It disturbed him, horrified him even, that his memories of his parents were vague, but growing stronger as he returned to Palmacosta. Yet no one in Palmacosta knew who he was. None of his old friends were there to greet him, Mrs. Dorr had not recognized him, not even Thomas, who he had lived by for fifteen years of his life, had known him!

Was this how Kratos felt when Lloyd did not recognize him? There were too many unanswered questions, too many things that Emil could not understand.

………………

The Dynasty Ruins were built over a steam vent, much like the seal of water over the geysers, and so the air was constantly heated and there was as much water in the air as there was between the passages. That was what most of the Ruins were; long stone hallways and canals of water that came in from the ocean. The halls were decorated with runes and mosaics that had once been bright and beautiful now were dull and indistinguishable from the grey walls.

Boats and secrete passages riddled the ways, rotting wooden boats were anchored along the stone docks and passages hid behind the hundreds of waterfalls that poured from the higher levels. The sound of roaring water had drowned out all other sounds, their footsteps, the dripping waters, and any attempts made at talking had long ago been abandoned.

Earlier they had set out; making their way through the huge city in an attempt to discover whatever it was that was causing the storms out at sea. If Thomas had believed that it was something here that was causing it, than that was the only lead they had, and they were going to take it!

_So this is what Daddy was talking about…_ thought Marta as they passed another crashing waterfall, _it _is_ beautiful._

She wished she could express her interest to the other three in their party, but Kratos would hardly make an interesting conversation, Tenebrae was Tenebrae, and Emil… he did not know. It ripped at her heart to know that Emil was far closer to Kratos then to her; she felt so…alone.

Being the only female in the party, she felt totally isolated when it came to everything. Sure, there were a bunch of the monsters in their party that were female. But she did not get to understand what they were saying! She had no clue, even Eon, who she spent the most time with, was a totally alien being to her.

Emil, who was supposed to be her _Prince_, never spoke to her or responded to her flirting. She had no idea if he even returned her feelings!

She had brought them together, and they had allied without her, leaving her to fend for herself. Oh, not literally, if it had not been for her two friends, she would have been dead long ago. Alice or Richter would have finished her off, but, even when she was mentally torn to pieces, they could not tell, or, more likely, did not care.

Then there were the monsters. It had become obvious to her that the two Knights were far more interested in their pets then the girl that they were supposed to be guarding. She would not have mattered to either if it had not been for Ratatosk's Core on her forehead.

And she would gladly have removed _that_ accessory months ago had she the choice.

Marta was growing sick of being the pointless tag-along. She was almost useless in battle, Kratos could heal, so too could the monsters. He could also spell cast, and Emil was perfectly ferocious in battle! He could rip enemies limb-from-limb with no trouble. She was just the helpless little girl, the second that the Core was gone, so was she.

That knowledge was ripping her apart…

………………

The only logical person in the entire group, Tenebrae, was feeling rather put-upon today. Darkness and water were not two elements that usually were very good friends. This explained why he and Aqua were always head-to-head. It was not that they _could not_ get along; it was just so much more fun to pick at her! Good sport if there ever was.

Cruel? Maybe.

Spiteful? It depended on who you were.

However, it was times like these that he wished the female Centurion were there to dry out the air just a bit. Of course, Ignis could have suited his purposes just as well. However, the Salamander Centurion was too easy to temper, and violent when he was angry. No fun to play with.

They had been walking in the humidity for hours, and Tenebrae's pelt was heavy with liquid and no amount of disintegrating himself into a shadow was going to dry him off. It drove him insane.

"Hey," Emil's shout was barely heard over the sound of the crashing water, "how much longer do you think it'll be 'till we get there?"

"Well, seeing as we have _no_ idea where the hell we're going, it might be awhile!"

"I wish we'd been able to ask Thomas a few more questions before he'd left," shouted Emil.

"I concur," said Kratos at his usual volume.

"What?!"

"I concur!" shouted Kratos.

Tenebrae felt for the angel, shouting when he could have easily have heard any of them whispering. Tenebrae had grown fond of all of them. Even the angel. He did have a bit of soul left in him after all.

"Yeah, what do Remoras have to do with anything?!" Emil's shout cut across Tenebrae's thoughts.

"Wait," Tenebrae shouted back, "Remoras? Of course! Remoras do not naturally live in the ocean. It is probably a territorial battle between monsters that's causing the storms!"

"That's it!"

_Aqua, this is all her fault, she's not doing her job and the world is falling to pieces around us!_

………………

As the group entered another section, at the very center of the city if Kratos was right, the sound of crashing water subsided and Kratos could once again hear himself think. His ears had been crying out since he had entered the Dynasty Ruins and he was glad to finally put them behind him.

The room was shaped like a collapsed stadium; seats circled an enormous pool of water. The seats sloped downward toward the water. The scent of salt laced the air and Kratos was sure that there was a passage that led to the sea and open water.

As they slipped down toward the pool, the impassioned scream of a monster echoed from under the water as a huge beast rose from the water, sending droplets of salty water cascading down on the three humans and their pets.

The creature was gigantic and whale-like, but for its long sharp teeth and razor-sharp fins. It was great and blue, and, from the looks of things, could blast gallons of water at high speeds towards its victims.

"It's a Manitou!" shouted Tenebrae.

"Thanks Tenebrae, it helps to know what they're called!" shouted Emil, already slipping into Ratatosk Mode.

"Emil, don't charge in, circle until we find a weakness, watery terrain is far more difficult than anything you've fought in before!" shouted Kratos as the Knight of Ratatosk dashed through the rows of seats, the Manitou blasting water not feet away.

Kratos took advantage of the creature's distraction to begin casting Grave. Hopefully the creature would be caught off guard. Marta, Valkie, and Sophie, too, started spells.

Nero floated up to the Manitou's eye and began to gorge at it with her knife. Eon on the other hand took to the waters and began to smack at its side with more force in the water than Kratos had ever seen him use on land. Lloyd stood next to Kratos and began a spell as well. Lithos took to the waters to join Eon.

The Manitou was a tough opponent, but easily distracted and though all of them were distracted from their spells many times, eventually the beast succumbed.

Marta let out a shout and leapt into the air, cheering for their victory. Emil was smiling on the far side of the arena where he had been keeping the Manitou busy while the others in the group cast spells.

The creature was floating on the surface of the pool, blood dripped from hundreds of slices and blue-black bruises that riddled its blue flank.

"That should stop the storms," called Tenebrae, "It should be an easy thing, getting a ship now-!" But as the Centurion boasted their easy trip to Izoold, something none of them had been expecting happened: the room began to collapse.

"Emil!" screamed Marta.

"H-help!" As rocks rained from the sky, falling on all present, the stone benches they were standing on slipped toward the pool and the Manitou's body. Marta and Emil were both slipping, and so, too, was Kratos.

"Emil!" Marta cried again as she was flung into the water and disappeared.

"Mart-!" A second later, Emil hit the water and slipped, unconscious, below the surface.

Kratos was moving too quickly to stop himself from hitting the water soon, and the falling rocks made flying impossible as well. And Emil and Marta were somewhere under there… he could not just leave them!

After a split-second of thought, Kratos sent himself into the churning black waters. Seconds later Sophie hit the water as well and the room collapsed, empty.

……………...

_Arg, my head…_ Lloyd groaned, to himself. He did _not_ want to get up.

It hurt!

The heat of the sun beat down on his back and he tentatively stretched his aching joints, eyes still closed. As he slowly became more aware of his surroundings, Lloyd realized that he was lying on a beach: in the sun.

He sat up with a jolt, despite the pain that shot through his body, and looked around. He was alone, no sign of any of the other monsters, or the kids, or… Dad.

Lloyd sighed, why did weird things never seem to end? Was it really so hard to just wake up in your bed?

He stood up tentatively and stretched again; he must have been lying immobile for hours to get this stiff. He threw his arm around his back and popped his shoulder. Then he did the same with the other. He grumbled and brushed some of his hair out of his face; he would need a haircut soon…

Wait, arms? Hair? Shoulders? Lloyd looked down at himself and jumped for joy: he was _himself_ again!

Everything was there, his red shirt with suspenders, his swords, boots, dark gray pants, everything! He grinned and then sat down abruptly as another jolt of thought hit him: what the _Hell_ was he gonna' tell Yuan?

There was no way that his uncle would believe this story, a four thousand-year-old Seraph or not.

And what was Dad going to think when he woke up and he was gone?

………………

When Kratos opened his eyes, his vision was dominated by the clear blue sky. There was not a cloud in the sky or an imperfection for miles. This, however, was hardly the thing that Kratos was focusing on: Lloyd, Emil, Marta. He stood, on his feet faster than humanly possible; searching for the missing parties.

Emil and Marta were not far from where he stood; on a short walk up the beach. The soft sand crunched under his boots as he moved toward their still bodies. He hoped against hope that they were still breathing…

He reached Marta first, bending down and feeling for a pulse on her neck. Much to his relief, he could feel the pounding of her heart and hear her soft breath. She seemed fine but for the exception of a few bruises. Then he turned to Emil.

The blond Knight was sprawled awkwardly on the sand, face down with his scarf wrapped oddly around his head. Kratos leaned over him, pulling the wet fabric away from the boy's face and felt for a pulse. For a moment, not even his angelic senses could find it. Panic rose in Kratos' throat: could he really be…?

Could Summon Spirits die? Kratos was unsure, certainly if the mana was removed they could not live, but drowning?

After a moment of frantic searching, he found it: faint, but there; pounding lightly.

And Lloyd?

Kratos stood, his heart hammering a tattoo against his ribs; where was Lloyd? He scanned the beach, quickly spotting six odd lumps littering the sands: the Chimera was not amongst them.

Lloyd was gone…? Impossible! Kratos began to pull out his wings; he would search by air and-.

-And what of Emil and Marta? Would he, Kratos, leave two unconscious children to themselves? Could he abandon his son in favor of his charges?

………………

When Sophie awoke, she yawned and stretched, she blinked sleep from her eyes and found herself lying on warm sand. She looked around, her black eyes large and unblinking, and located Master Emil and Lady Marta, Nero, Valkie, Isho, Lithos, and Eon. Master Kratos was not far from her, but there was no sign of Lloyd.

"Master Kratos," her voice was soft so as not to wake the others, "Master Kratos, where's Lloydie?"

"_I… do not know."_

"What? How can you not? What do you mean?"

"_He is not here."_

"But we has to look for him! He could be in danger or something!"

"_Sophie, we cannot leave the others."_

"But, Lloyd-."

"_I know Sophie,"_ her Master was hissing now, anger dripped from his words, though it was not directed at her. _"I want to but…"_

"But he is your son!"

" _I know, but there is nothing we can do, Lloyden can take care of himself. For now we must watch over his friends for him."_

"No! What if he gets killed? Chimera is hunted here!"

"_I've searched the entire damn coast, Sophie, if he's alive, he's gone. And there's nothing we can do about it."_

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**Well, there you have it.**

**I have a warning now: the next three or four chapters are super angsty, because we all feel angsty and pubescent some days. Welcome to Paradise. **

**Speaking of paradise, everyone say "hi" to Rouge who's in friggen' California. Stupid Rouge.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	24. In Which an Old Friend Returns

**Holy crap, chapter twenty-four, I swear I never thought I'd get this far…**

**I'm going to put this warning in now: I don't like Dirk. At all. There really isn't a logical reason, too much FF I suppose. I just hate him. On the other hand, I love Noishe. So, there will be a lot of Dirk-bashing on the part of Noishe and Kratos. You'll see what I mean.**

**Sorry for the slightly late update, what with Rouge having only gotten home from CA yesterday, I needed to get her to read the chapter. We've all been busy since summer started.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Tales of Symphonia, You would go to Dirk's **_**house,**_** see more**_** Noishe,**_** and you would see **_**Anna's Grave**_** and **_**Flamberge**_**. Quite obviously, I don't have it yet. And the Mayor would have been beheaded.**

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The group of ten, now a monster short because of Lloyd's absence, had been wandering up and down the beach where they had been washed up for hours now with no sign of any living being. The Continent on which Iselia resides, Triet, Kratos had enlightened the other two humans. However, it seemed that they were in the middle of nowhere, lost somewhere between the mountains that surrounded the Triet Desert and the Iselia Forest.

It was not until late afternoon that they saw someone coming up the beach, two someone_s_ to be exact. And to be even more precise, Noishe and Dirk.

Kratos hated Dirk. Simple fact, jealousy, though he would never admit it. The dwarf had taken part in his son's flawed childhood and Kratos would never forgive him for some of the things that he had put his son through. He also owed the man a great debt of gratitude for watching his son.

That did not make Kratos have to like him, however. Lloyd had once tried to get his two fathers to enjoy time with each other; the picnic had fallen flat with both fathers trying to outdo each other. Noishe had enjoyed it; he was the only one whom had gotten any food.

Noishe, on the far opposite side of Dirk, Kratos was ecstatic, or, rather, as close to ecstatic at Kratos could get, to see his old friend. The Protozoan had been Kratos oldest friend, before Yuan, Martel, or Mithos, and he had been torn apart when he had had to say goodbye to the wolf-like creature, telling him again that he was leaving and to watch over his son.

On the other side, would Noishe remember him?

"_Oh my friggin' Origin, it's KRATOS!!!!!!!"_ That was an obvious yes…

Kratos felt the air forced from his lungs as he hit the ground, the sound he made as his body met the dirt and sand road was almost silent; a large, wet _thing_ flapped over his face. There was a loud, excited, and familiar voice echoing in the back of his head.

"_Dude,' sup? What the hell's goin' on? You disappear, come back, and _don't visit?_ Come on, I thought we were best friends!"_

"G-get off!"

"Oh my gosh, Kratos is being attacked!"

"What the heck is that thing?!"

"Noishe! Noishe, get off o' him! I'm sorry sir, Noishe, bad dog! Off!"

"_I am not an f'ing DOG dwarfy!"_

"Noishe…" growled Kratos, "Off. Now."

"_But I missed you!"_

"I'm sorry sir, Noishe don' usually act like that 'round strangers…" Kratos stood, trying to regain a little dignity, and for the first time saw the speaker, though he knew the voice before he saw to whom it belonged too.

Dirk.

"Noishe, come! Bad dog! You don' tackle people like that! I am sorry, it won' happ'n again."

"No, that is fine."

"_Talk to me, I haven't heard _anything_ for months! WHY do you people insist upon keeping me out of the loop?! WHY DO YOU HATE ME?! Come on, I can handle it, are we restarting Cruxis? Will there be jerky? Or maybe that good stuff I used to get in Luin-."_

Kratos hissing under his breath for the "dog" to shut up interrupted Noishe's rant.

"Um… I'm sorry to interrupt, but, do you know where we are? We seem to have become lost…" Marta looked embarrassed.

"Oh, you're jus' a few miles south o' Iselia. Wan' me to walk you there?"

"N-no, that's fine. Thank you! Come on, let's go."

"_DON'T LEAVE ME!"_

"_What the Hell is this guy's problem?"_ demanded Nero.

"_No freakin' clue Impy."_

"_Shut up Toad."_

"_Excuse me Mister,"_ Sophie was forcibly polite as she spoke to the Protozoan, _"how do you know Master Kratos?"_

"_Long story, kid."_ Noishe winked at the Alraune.

"Thanks again for your help sir, we really appreciate it!"

"Sophie, Nero, Eon, let's go!" Kratos barked at the three monsters. Emil's pets were already far ahead of the group, scouting out their path.

After they had walked for a few minutes and were safely out of hearing range of the strange Dwarf, Marta let out a long whistle.

"That was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. I mean, I know you get along really well with Monsters, but I didn't think you were into wolfy-dog-things…"

"As a general rule, I am not."

"That was most certainly not a "wolfy-dog-thing" Lady Marta, that was a very proud species of creature I thought extinct for thousands of years," Tenebrae explained lightly to Marta.

"He does not _act_ very proud." Heavy sarcasm dripped from the Seraph's words.

Tenebrae rolled his eyes, "You can hardly blame him, and did you see the company he kept? A Dwarf? I did not know that any Dwarves still lived above ground."

"Only two that I know of."

"I feel like we're missing a lot of the conversation," whispered Emil.

"I'll say… Hey, you two, no having conversations we don't get!"

"Perhaps if you listened you would understand more!" cried Tenebrae.

"T-Tenebrae, Marta, let's not start this now!" Emil did not look as though he was in the mood to listen to any of their bickering today, Kratos could hardly blame him.

"Well then, off to Iselia!" cried Marta, sticking her hand into the air.

"Why are you so optimistic?!" demanded Emil, "We crossed the ocean, landed on some unknown beach, and lost Lloyd and yet you're all for the next adventure! How can you say things like that when some of us are so obviously in pain?!" The blond Knight swung a dramatic finger in Kratos' direction.

"Emil… I'm sorry. I guess I'm just trying to keep the mood light, but you're right. I'm sorry. To you and Kratos, I'm being really heartless…"

"N-no, it should be me whose apologizing, I shouldn't have yelled, it was really uncalled for…"

Marta grinned, "I'll accept your apology if you accept mine, let's seal it with a kiss!"

And suddenly even Kratos was fighting to hold back a chuckle as Marta flung Emil to the sandy ground and began kissing him, planting little pecks all over his face.

………………….

Wandering up the beach, Dirk having directed them in the correct direction, Kratos had to wonder at his own choice, how could he have left his son if, in fact, he had been wrong in his assumption that Lloyd was gone, and the Chimera, or man, was still wandering up the beach searching for his father.

Of course, he could easily have been wrong on that account as well. Besides, who had ever heard of a man turning into a monster in such a literal sense?

Granted, who had ever heard of a man returning from another planet and being forgotten as he had?

No, he told himself; Lloyd can take care of himself, monster or no monster. And… and the children cannot do the same. Leaving Emil and Marta to fend for themselves, even while he scoured the sand, was far too risky. The Vanguard would not know that they were here yet, but there was no telling what other dangers had sparked in the new world.

This was not to say that he had not searched, but by eye, by foot, he could not have moved, but sending out his mana to locate another was a basic skill. One he had found useful in the past, now it had brought him nothing but grief, as it had not located his lost child.

As it had once before failed him sixteen years before…

………………

The Triet continent was far to the south, the extreme weather patterns that defined Flanor, Asgard, or Triet never reached to the small Village of Oracles. The mountains that surrounded the Triet Desert stopped the extreme heat and sand from blowing toward the northern parts of the continent, and they also blocked much of the rain that Iselia was blessed with throughout the year.

Despite the mild weather most of the year; the true pull of Iselia was the Martel Temple. This being the hometown of the Chosen, and now the Great Lloyd, it had become a major pilgrimage point, as big as the Balacruf ruins or the Tower of Mana. However, very little had changed in the little town, people were able to walk more freely since the destruction of the Desian Ranch that had plagued them for seven hundred years.

As the group of three sat, the monsters hidden in the Centurion's Shadow, they watched the people wander the town's pathways. Marta seemed totally at ease in the small town, while Emil was constantly checking over his shoulder and twitching his hand to his sword at any crunch of a footfall or whispering of the wind.

"This town is so peaceful!" cried Marta, taking in a deep breath of air, "The air's so clean and it's so quiet! It seems like the perfect place to live!"

"I don't like it, the air seems charged, and it's too quiet for my liking! It's just like I would expect Lloyd's hometown to look like!"

Marta and Kratos exchanged uncomfortable glances; nothing seemed to shake the Knight from his mission of revenge. Even learning of Kratos and Lloyd's relation had not swayed him in the least.

Or to their eyes at least.

At that moment, their thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a little boy, eight or nine at most. He was wearing a red shirt with many little silver buttons and brown suspenders. In each and he carried a miniature wooden sword.

"Did you just say Lloyd?" His eyes went wide with excitement.

"Yes," said Marta, her voice lightening as she spoke to the child, "and you are…?"

"I'm Paul, Lloyd's number one apprentice! I'm heading out to patrol the haunted Ranch, you wanna' come?"

"I would not go that way if I were you," said Kratos softly, "Ranches are dangerous, even if it had not been active for some years, it would still be far too dangerous for you to even think of going near it."

"Ah, you're just a big chicken! So, you wanna'?"

"Lloyd's apprentice? What kind of an idiot-?"

"What did you say?!"

"Emil, he's just a kid!" Marta cried at him, "You can't talk to kids like that!"

"I'm not a kid! I'm the great dual swordsman, Paul the Magnificent!"

Marta giggled, "My apologies Paul the Magnificent."

"Sheesh, you outsiders have no manners!" With that, the small swordsman slipped around Marta and out the main gates. Kratos debated following him, but decided against it: any child would know that it was too dangerous to go to the Ranch alone. He was probably just bragging anyway…

"I can't believe kids still worship Lloyd even after what he did to Palmacosta!" cried Emil.

"I know you're upset, but please, try to calm down. We need to keep out wits about us!"

"Marta is right Emil, when you could be attacked at any moment, you should not let your emotions get the best of you." Kratos tried not to sound like he was scolding Emil, but…

"Oh, like you should talk!" suddenly Emil was shouting, his eyes flashing red, "Back at the Ruins you absolutely freaked out at Alice just because she hit your _monster!_ Then you let the same monster disappear on a beach and don't even look for him, what does that tell us about you?! No wonder Lloyd turned out like he did, you just go abandoning people! I can't believe you sometimes!"

And he was gone, storming off through the throngs of now staring people.

It should not have hurt. Kratos' heart should not be aching just because Emil was disgusted with him. He knew it was coming, the bottled up frustration that the Knight had been harboring since the journey had begun. No person, human or otherwise could have taken the anger, frustration, and loss that Emil had suffered with any better grace.

Despite this, Kratos' felt the familiar burning in his chest that would have meant tears had he been any other species.

"E-Emil…" Marta's whisper was pained, "Please don't go, we're sorry, we're… so very, very sorry…"

"Kratos, this is your fault, go after him."

"Helpful Tenebrae, how is it that you can be so infinitely compassionate in our times of human need?"

The only reply that Kratos' sarcasm received was a bitter snort.

"Marta," he murmured softly, "let me go after him; everything will right itself in time."

"T-thank you Kratos," she wiped away the beginnings of tears that were forming in her crystal blue eyes. "I'm sure you can do it…"

"Go with Tenebrae, I shall meet with you later."

"See ya' Kratos…"

"Good luck…" Tenebrae's whisper was heard only by him; the shadow of a whisper in the sweet Iselian air.

……………….

Emil was just standing there, his muscles rigid with pain and anger. He was gasping softly, he must have started running after he had been swallowed by the crowds, and he looked, even from behind, miserable.

It was in this moment, watching an innocent suffer, that all of the self-loathing that had plagued him before Lloyd had reentered his life returned. He suddenly felt sick, what kind of monster was he? The child was right; he was a sick bastard who abandoned everything that he cared about. His son, his wife, everything would fall through his fingers like sand…

No, Emil came first; his own pain could wait until later.

"Emil… I am terrible at this…" the last part was whispered: not meant for the boy's ears, however it was heard.

"Kratos I-."

"Do not apologize for anything." Kratos said curtly, his voice was far too harsh for what he was trying to do, "It was… my fault, we are all too on edge. Forgive me."

"K-Kratos, are you trying to apologize?" If Emil had not been so sad, Kratos would swear that he would be gaping.

"I-… yes." Blunt, oh yes, very smooth Kratos. "There is a lot that you do not understand about my relationship with Lloyd, however, I should not expect you to understand anything if I do not explain myself. I have lived in solitude for too long, or with those who know my person far too well. I have come to expect that you should just know, however, I am obviously wrong on that front."

"No." Kratos flinched; he should have known that his apology would not be enough… "I'm the one who should be apologizing, I've seen the way you talk about Lloyd, and you really love him. There's got to be factors that we just don't get; stuff that's none of our business. I guess I just get sick of all the secrets, but they're necessary sometimes. You kept all that stuff about your being a half-elf and Lloyd being your son and where you've been all these years for good reason." The boy sighed. "I trust you, you would never do anything to hurt us, sure, you've made mistakes, but we all screw up sometimes, it's just what we do… So, I'm just gonna' trust that what you're doing is right. I just needed to cool down to get that."

Kratos felt himself moved; Emil knew how to make one feel needed. However, was Emil really so trusting that the lying thing that was himself would get _another_ chance?

"I do not believe that I deserve your trust: I am a "murderer of all things good"." Sarcasm dripped from his voice as he quoted one of Yuan's favorite descriptions of the _Angel of Death;_ however, there was an undertone that hinted of its truth. "I fear your trust is misguided."

"I think that's for _us_ to decide, and you're stuck with us if I've got anything to say." Marta's voice echoed brightly from behind the white-clad angel. "Sorry Krattie-kins, you're stayin'."

"Marta has spoken!" Emil smirked childishly, though tears still glistened in his eyes, "And she's the one with Ratatosk's Core, so that makes all her decisions final!"

………………

"Marshall, Suni, and Fey I want you to scour Northern Tethe'alla, find that child, if he doesn't come, drag him by his ears."

"Yes sir!"

"We'll keep that in mind Lord Yuan." Suni's black-brown eyes sparkled with mirth at her ex-leader's expense.

"This is notthe time Suni, I-."

"You worry too much." The three half-elves and angel that had been discussing their situation spun around to find the very topic of their conversation standing in the doorway looking smug. "I'm touched, you _do_ care. Should I start calling you Uncle Yu-yu?"

"Lloyd, where the hell have you been?!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told ya'."

"Ehehe, I don't think we're needed anymore." Fey was snickering, "We'll catch up with the others so they don't go lookin' for the kid. See ya!"

The group of ex-Renegades disappeared out the door leaving the awkward pair standing there looking after them.

"Did ya' miss me?"

"Lloyden, where the hell have you been?!"

"Ahh, you did miss me?"

"Stop acting like an idiot and tell me where you've been."

"You called me "Lloyden"; you only call me that when you've been worried."

"Child, I am running swiftly out of patience."

"Nineteen."

"Excuse me?"

"I am nineteen and that officially makes me an adult. Besides, I've been through way more than most adults I know."

"Fine. _Mr. Aurion_, you're stalling and I demand to know what you have been doing for the past two months."

"Oh, not much, hangin' out with Dad and Sophie and Nero, Eon and Valkie and Lithos and Isho. Oh, and Tenebrae, that Emil kid and Marta and Colette and Zelos and all their friends, it was a huge party."

"Sophie, Nero, Eon, Valkie, Lithos, Isho, Tenebrae, Emil, Marta, Colette, Zelos, and _your father?_"

"Yup."

"Elaborate. Now."

"Um… letsee, Sophie is this little flower thing-alraune I think-, Nero and Isho are imps, Eon's a polwiggle, and an irritating little bastard at that, Lithos is a wolf, and Valkie is a harpy. Emil is Ratatosk and Marta is… well I'm not sure what she's doin' there, I guess they're all convinced she's got Ratatosk's Core on her forehead or somethin'… Tenebrae is a Centurion. Colette and Zelos are the Chosens' of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and Kratos is a mercenary-turned-hero-turned-Seraph-turned-traitor-turned-father-turned-Knight of Ratatosk… am I forgetting anyone?"

"Damn, Chi- Lloyd, what the Hell are you babbling about? Kratos is on Derris Kharlan! And monsters? You expect me to believe any of this?"

"…Yes. I don't exactly have any other excuses lined up, so I'm hoping you believe this one." Lloyd was grinning… Lloydishly, and Yuan was glaring back at him, obviously not believing his godson's story. "Would you believe I turned into a Chimera, made a pact with Kratos, traveled with him half-way across the world, got my ass handed to me by the Vanguard, and woke up near Iselia human? Or as human as I get, I guess I should say."

"No, I think that you need to come up with a better excuse next time."

"Do you believe the merc. is Dad?"

"I don't know… perhaps. I think we need to look further into this."

Lloyd could not understand why if felt so weird to walk on only two legs, or not to have those funny little wings wiggling on his back. But he knew one thing; it was good to be home again, no matter how bad Yuan was.

He just kinda' missed hanging out with Sophie and the others…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**Damn, my angst writing skills SUCK.**

**That didn't mean to come out like that, it just sorta' did. Sorry… sometimes the story just writes itself, you know? Hopefully I didn't ruin the whole story. On the upside, I got to see **_**Angels and Demons**_** and I got the new Green Day CD. Yoshi happy.**

**R&R!**

**Yours as always,**

**~Yoshi**


	25. In Which Evil Makes a Comeback

**Good news, I found someone who I hate more than Koton, though not **_**quite**_** so much as Dirk and his name is… untold. We all affectionately refer to him as the Mayor of Iselia! He officially gets second place on the **_**I Hate This Character**_** list… **

**This chapter should get us through The Mayor's seen; I will be screwing up **_**a lot**_** in this section because I think the way the game did it was crap. So, enjoy.**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: My laptop died on Tuesday and I lost all the chapters that I had written so I'm going to be having to rewrite EVERYTHING that I had written. That's a lot of words, so, in order to lessen the stress upon myself, I am warning you that updates may not come so regularly, I will try my hardest to continue with the weekly updates. However, this may prove difficult because in the mean-time I am going to be spending much of my time get music, pics, etc. back.**

**Thanks for your understanding!**

**Disclaimer: I got nothin', zilch, noda in the way of Tales of Symphonia… I guess I own my monsters. Wootness.**

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"I am Forcystus of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals!"

"Lloyd Irving is here! I will defeat you evil Desian!"

The playing children were shouting and laughing as they ran around outside of the schoolhouse near the Mayor's home. Kratos watched as "Lloyd" tackled "Forcystus" and "Colette" clapped and shouted.

"I keep hearing this word "Desian" what does it mean?" Tenebrae ghosted behind the three with his question.

"You don't know?" Marta looked shocked.

"The Desians were a group of blood-thirsty half-elves that wreaked havoc upon Sylvarant before the Regeneration," Kratos supplied, "They were shunned and discriminated against and found solace amongst their revenge-driven kinsmen. They tortured and experimented on humans in places called Human Ranches, there was one on each continent, four in total. Lloyd destroyed two and disbanded the remaining; killing their leaders. The organization fell with the reuniting of the world."

"I thought there were five…" said Marta, "Asgard, Palmacosta, Iselia, Remote Island, and Triet."

"Ah, yes, of course." Right, Yuan's Renegade base had played the part of a Human Ranch.

"They say they did some pretty unspeakable things to the humans they kidnapped…" Emil shuddered.

"You talk like you weren't affected by them," said Marta, "There was a Ranch right near Palmacosta and everyone was so afraid. They even did public executions right in the main square! It was so scary."

"Oh, y-yeah, right, of course."

"Yeah, Iselia got off easy since the Chosen was born here. They made a non-aggression treaty with the Desians so that their people couldn't be taken to the Ranch as long as they stayed away from the Ranch."

Kratos hissed at the idea, the non-aggression treaty was simply to protect the Chosen. Mithos would never have agreed otherwise.

"It seems we Centurions missed a lot while we were dormant."

………………

_How the_ Hell_ does this society work; how can this man still be in any sort of position of power after everything that's happened?_ That was all that Kratos could think upon being directed to the Mayor's household by the owner of the inn. How had the man who had outlawed his son, made dealings with Desians and the Chosen alike, and shown himself to be a racist bastard without a thought for what was best for others, still manage to be in charge of Iselia?

Government in both worlds had always been bad, but this was slightly exasperating.

Marta was doing much of the talking for their little party as Kratos was socially awkward and Emil was feeling emotionally unstable today, and Tenebrae was a talking cat-thing.

She was knocking brightly on the door, her eyes and smile refreshed from a comfortable night at the newly built Iselia Inn, Salvation. It seemed that tourism had exploded in the small town since the Final Regeneration.

You would think that they would have chosen a more charismatic face to represent them.

"Can I help you?" The elderly Mayor of Iselia opened the door. The man had not changed much but for his hair which now had strips of white marrying the grey.

"Excuse us, but we're looking for Lloyd Irving and we were wondering if you might be able to help us…" Marta was smiling widely.

"…Perhaps you should come in…" The man searched the crowds nervously, as though expecting someone to be listening to their conversation. After assuring himself that no one had overheard, he ushered Marta, Emil, and Kratos into his home. Inside, a dog ran slept in front of a small fire, though the weather outside was not cold; the fire must have felt good to Emil and Marta. It was a quaint house with little in the way of décor.

"Now…"

"We heard Lloyd Irving was supposed to live in this town and we were wondering if you could help of find him…" Emil looked slightly awkward making the request.

"We… get quite a few asking about Lloyd, is this about the Blood Purge in Palmacosta? It doesn't make sense; Lloyd would never join the Church, let alone lead it against Palmacosta."

"What?"

"Lloyd… didn't believe in the Church of Martel?"

"Yes, he would never join the Church even when his best friend was the Chosen of Regeneration."

"Yes, that… sounds like Lloyd." Kratos forced back a small smile at the thought of his son; Lloyd had obviously retained the fear he and Anna had placed in Lloyd when it came to the Church. Their always being on the run had introduced Lloyd to many things very early on in life, the Church being in every town, it was difficult to avoid, but they had done it, teaching Lloyd of the falsehoods and evils of "Martel's" teachings.

"You knew Lloyd?"

"I met him on the Journey of Regeneration." Not a total lie…

"Then you must understand why I find it so hard to believe that Lloyd could do something like that."

"That bastard killed my parents!" Emil's hiss took the whole room by surprise. His eyes blazed Ratatosk's red and his fists clenched aggressively.

The Mayor sighed and continued on as though Emil had not interrupted; "Two years ago, before the World Regeneration, a massacre took place in our town at the hands of the Desians because of Lloyd."

"See, it's just like Palmacosta, Lloyd is nothing but a worthless murderer!"

Kratos and Marta both started, Kratos toward Emil and Marta to cut Kratos off, but the young Knight ignored them.

"B-but," said Marta quickly, trying to distract them both, "I thought Iselia had a treaty with the Desians."

"Lloyd tried to save a friend of his who was being held at the Human Ranch, it provoked the Desians into attacking."

Kratos hissed under his breath; the _treaty_ had been a charade that Mithos and Forcystus had set to give the humans a sense of security, and it also was a good reason to keep the Chosen safe, though the Desian Grand Cardinal knew better than to attack the Chosen. The Renegades were the only ones who ever "broke" the treaty, Botta lead his men on the day of Prophesy to kill the Chosen, though this only made a more dramatic entrance for Kratos himself… This supposed breaking of the treaty was what had provoked Lloyd into attacking the Human Ranch, although it was mostly for Marble's sake.

And both Lloyd and Genis had paid in full for those crimes.

"What a fool, even a child knows that the lives of the Villagers are more important than the life of one insignificant woman!"

"What…? "One insignificant woman", what a monstrous thing to say!" Marta's hands went over her mouth in horror, "How would you feel if she was _your_ family?! Then would you say something like that?"

"Then which would _you_ choose? Save one person with a thousand lives, or a thousand lives with one?"

"And Chocolate and Cacao? Should they be forced to hear of their loved one's death? If it was your grandmother would you ask her to suffer and die to save a village of people that you do not know?" Kratos' question cut through the air, a question that he had been wondering about for a while.

"Well…" Marta's eyes were tearing up.

"It's obvious, the one should be sacrificed for- Wait! That's not right, what if you _were_ the one person? Would you still feel that way? And what if you could find a way to save all thousand and one people?!" Emil's shout sounded, hissed for a moment before the green eyes had broken through the red and the generous little Knight corrected the blood-thirsty Ratatosk.

"Yes, Lloyd thought that way as well."

Emil looked, for the first time, at the Mayor, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Kratos crossed his arms and nodded knowingly.

"But ultimately, he failed. Lofty principals are all well and good, but there is a difference between "ideal" and "reality"."

"…" Emil looked disgustedly at the Mayor.

"Lloyd is a fool. He believes that all men are created equal. He imagines a world where those who want to live _can._ But he's also a man who works tirelessly to realize his ideals. Of course, whether this is a good or bad thing is yet to be decided."

"Mayor, you believe in Lloyd."

Kratos and Emil's jaws hit the floor.

"Well, I cannot say that I like him much, but yes, for some reason I do."

"Why the _Hell_ does everyone stand up for him?! I know for a fact that he killed my mother." Emil, swiftly as a tilting swing, had returned to Ratatosk Mode.

_Why do I still find that unlikely?_ Kratos' sarcastic thought could not be voiced, but the truth of it was obvious.

"Ask the people in town, his old teacher is back here right now as well."

Kratos' face twisted into a grimace of pain; why did _she_ have to be here?

"And Lloyd's father is at Martel Temple. Perhaps he could shed some light on things."

Kratos twitched horribly and Emil and Marta both trained their stares on him. The Mayor missed this.

"It's possible he's been in contact with Lloyd."

"The Temple of Martel?"

"It's located north of here and belongs to the Church of Martel. Lloyd's father is a skilled craftsman and he has been doing repair work there."

"Lloyd's…_father?"_ Emil's question caused Kratos to flinch.

"Adopted, but yes, his father: Dirk Irving. Why do you look so shocked; he's got to have parents somewhere."

"Dirk Irving…"

"Yes, yes, Dirk is a dwarf who lives a few miles north of Iselia. He does repair work and takes crafting requests for a living. He found Lloyd when he was abandoned about sixteen years ago with his dead mother in the forest near the Human Ranch. Apparently the father had abandoned them. Who knows what kind of scum-."

The door slammed shut as Kratos disappeared out the door, his white cloak snapping behind him furiously.

"What the Hell's his problem?"

"Oh, poor Kratos…"

"Kratos? That was the name of the Mercenary who assisted in the World Regeneration."

"Yeah, we get that a lot," said Emil bitterly.

………………

_What kind of scum…? What kind of man abandons his wife and child on their deathbeds and allows his son to be raised by another man?_

Kratos felt the pain of self-loathing rising in his chest like nausea. He wandered the rocky streets, mindlessly passing around the citizens. The sound of his clothing making soft sounds as well as his footfalls and soft breathing were blocked out by his fury.

_Why did I do this to them? Anna was better off in the Ranch, and Lloyd… I should have never abandoned you my son. I should never have come back, polluted his life again. He is better off without me. I abandon him again and again, I am constantly running._

His self-hatred had taken him deep into Iselia Forest, wandering down the path toward the Human Ranch where Anna and Lloyd had… Why did he do this to himself? The steep cliff that rose in front of him was already branded into his mind; he had searched around it again and again that night. Until the soft light of morning had brushed its long fingers upon the grassy stone, revealing the deep red of blood staining the cliff.

He would have stayed forever, searching for his lost love and child, calling their names in tortured anguish, if _he _had not come… Mithos, donning his child-like form, moving toward him with liquid grace; warming him with open arms and comforting words… the damn child had pulled Kratos back into his "purifying" embrace. Warping his mind, cutting further into his tormented soul, Mithos sunk his hand into the mentor's chest and pulled out the last fragments of his heart.

"_Return with me Kratos, my friend, my dear mentor, let us save Martel together. Let no one else suffer as we have. Let no one else feel the loss that we have sustained. She cannot be saved, but there is one who can. Please, Anna would want you to do anything you could to save Martel. She knows how much Martel suffers. Please…"_

And Kratos had agreed.

………………

"Come _on_ Emil, we have to find Kratos! He's all alone in the forest, what if he's attacked or something?!"

"Serves him right for abandoning us! And lying. I don't think I'll ever forgive him!"

"Emil… Argh! You're such a jerk! You know, you and Kratos aren't the only ones with feelings! How do you think I feel when the two of you are having pity-parties or fighting and _I'm_ the one who had to keep you together? You think I like doing that?" Marta was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling with the strength of her words. Her fists were clenched into tight balls, as if she was ready to attack Emil. "I have to deal with everyone trying to kill me, and Ratatosk's Core being stuck to my forehead, and everyone always trying to keep me safe. You think I can't do anything on my own and it drives me nuts!

"Honestly, do you think I can't defend myself? I love you, but sometimes I hate you so much! You, Kratos, Tenebrae, and all your stupid monsters!"

And Marta too was gone. Stomping away from Emil; heated tears in her eyes.

The blond Knight was left standing on his own, alone, confused, hurt, and, above all, deeply betrayed. First Kratos, now Marta; he completely devoid of any true friendships. He should have seen this coming. He should have known that they were too good to be true; that everything they had said about "not abandoning him" was all crap. Everyone left him. No one cared anymore.

"_We… care."_

Emil jumped, the unfamiliar voice sending jolts through his body.

"W-who said that?!"

"_We did silly!"_ It was Valkie, Lithos, and Isho that had appeared behind him. Valkie slipped her wings around him and was practically hugging him. _"Don't worry; you can always count on us. We love you!"_

"_Love here being a relative term."_ Isho said, though it was kind, sarcasm only in a light dose.

"_Oh, come on buddy, we'll always be here!"_

Impossible, Emil was… actually hearing his monsters speak to him!

………………

Tenebrae was not sure whom to try to comfort first. His instincts screamed at him to go to Lord Ratatosk and make sure that the already unstable boy was not falling apart, but, on the other side, Marta, being the woman, deserved to have her heart calmed first. Tenebrae was, first and foremost, a gentleman. Then there was Kratos who, if truth be told, could, and most likely would, be the most destructive in his depression.

Life never seemed to have easy answers.

"_Lord Tenebrae?_ The Centurion looked down to see Kratos' monsters and Lithos, Sophie was speaking, _"Valkie, Isho, and Lithos can take care of Master Emil, and we'll go make sure Master Kratos will be okay. You go after Lady Marta, please."_

"_Yeah, otherwise we're sending the Toad, and I'm not sure that's the best idea."_ Nero smirked.

Perhaps Fate was not as bad as Tenebrae remembered her.

"Yes, that does sound like an intelligent idea, thank you Miss Sophie."

"_Alright, we're going to go look for Master Kratos. See you at the inn."_

"_Ciao Tenebie!"_

"_Have fun dealing with the girl!"_

"_Don't worry; we'll take care of Emil."_

Yes, it was times like this when Tenebrae really appreciated having other monsters running around. They could do a lot of the dirty work.

Now he just had to help Marta. Hopefully she will have calmed down; he really did not want to have a very angry Lady Marta after him.

She was not hard to find, as she had "Ratatosk's Core" on her forehead, Tenebrae could easily sense her anywhere in the area; she had chosen a rather abnormal place to sit and cry, a pond in front of the ruins of a burnt building. However, it was a pretty little lake; lilies scattered the surface of the water and colorful little fish swam the cool spring.

It could not have been any lovelier.

"Lady Marta, are you alright?"

"Go away Tenebrae, I'm not in the mood to talk."

"Oh, neither am I, actually I'm _never_ in the mood to speak more than what is necessary. It is just so pointless. What is the point of over-speaking? Words can only express so much, which is why I think more creatures should be born without mouths. It would have made all our lives much easier. Not being born with mouths, however, it may have made communication difficult, perhaps a silent body language. Or telepathic. There are actually some monsters that-."

"Shut-up Tenebrae."

"Lady Marta, if you do not mind my saying, most men are just as pig-headed as those two, and believe me, they are the least of your worries. If you ask me, they actually handle themselves very well, despite the self-pity. They are trying though."

"If that's trying I don't want to see what happens when they don't."

"Then you get people like out dear friend the Mayor of Iselia."

"Pleasant."

"Perhaps you should count yourself among the lucky to have wound up with them."

Marta did not respond and Tenebrae felt a sinking feeling in his chest, was she really so angered at them? After a moment she sighed, frustrated.

"I _know_ I'm lucky. It just hurts so much when they do things without me, or stuff I don't get! It's like I stop mattering to them!"

"Now, now Lady Marta," Tenebrae sat down next to the girl, his tale wrapping around her waist comfortingly, "Emil may like Kratos, but I do not think he is the type to develop feelings like_ that_ for him. And even if he did, Kratos would not return the sentiments. You are the only candidate for his affection. I think the most important thing you can do right now would be to go to Emil and re-forge the bond that brought the two of you together in the first place."

"Yeah, our bond is way too strong to be broken by something as silly as a little fight like this!"

"Then the two of you can go after Kratos, unite the two of yourselves against a common enemy. In addition, he will realize what a kind, selfless, and truly caring person you are. Emil cannot resist you charms, I am sure."

"Tenebrae, you're a genius!" Marta was grinning ear-to-ear with the prospects of Emil falling further in love with her. There was no sign of her tears.

_You are Tenebrae, you sly dog. The Master of Darkness and Relationships strikes again!_

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**Next week will be the oh-so-angsty part two.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	26. In Which Kratos Has A Mental Breakdown

**I don't like this chapter, I don't think I'm going to do anything this heavily angsty until I work on my technique. I tried to keep everyone in character. Please keep reading, next week will be better, I swear.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not happy right now, so if I owned Tales of Symphonia, I'd probably kill off everyone and the Age of Lifeless Beings would succeed. DON'T OWN.**

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Finding Kratos took hours; the midmorning sun turned to its noontime height then stooped down toward the western horizon. The clouds moved about in the soft breeze, and the trees of the Iselia Forest danced and swayed. Marta and Emil scoured the wood, calling their friend's name and the names of the monsters that should have joined him.

Tenebrae's plan had worked like a charm; Emil had embraced Marta's apologies and the idea of working together to look for Kratos. The girl had been careful to not cling nor talk much about how romantic it was that they were working together, but, rather, focused on her growing worries about Kratos. His disappearing act had the two children on edge; Tenebrae had stated, vaguely, before vanishing to give them privacy, how destructive Kratos may grow to be in his depressions.

This was hardly reassuring.

"Kratos!"

"Kratos, where are you?!"

"Come on, answer us!"

"Kratos Aurion!"

No answer came to their repeated inquiries, and they were getting deeper and deeper into the forest. They had seen signs posted onto the trees that stated the Desian Human Ranch was but a short walk away. Why would Kratos have come here?

The sound of ruffling foliage caused both children to jump, but, much to their relief, Eon hopped from the bushes. He signaled with the flat side of his tail for them to follow and he disappeared off the path, further into the trees. They followed without hesitation.

Emil had not known what to expect when they found Kratos; fury, violence, even silent brooding all would have made sense to him, not the sight they came upon. Kratos was on his knees, hands folded, as though he was in prayer. His head hung and eyes closed. His white coat spread around him, a white island in the sea of dirt and grass that surrounded him.

He was utterly defeated.

A cliff loomed over their small figures; it was hundreds of feet tall, only the bravest of weeds dotted the sheer side of it. Kratos sat as still as the cliff that he knelt in front of; not a muscle moved, his lips, eyelids, even the rise and fall of his chest was barely noticeable. It was as though he was made of stone.

His skin was white marble, as though the blood had drained from his veins. His auburn and black hair covered his face; though seeing it would not have told them anything they did not already know. His face was utterly blank.

"K-Kratos, are you alright?" Marta whispered. "You don't look well, let's go back to town and you can rest, okay?"

He did not respond, there was not even a twitch to show that he had heard or was listening.

"Come on Kratos, let's go." Emil tried to be commanding, but it was impossible to miss the fear in his voice. He just wanted the Kratos that they relied on back, protecting them.

Still, no answer came. He was pale: white and practically transparent.

"We'll only stay one more night here, or, if you don't want to, we could just leave. Go to Izoold. We don't have to talk to that Dirk guy or anything. I'm sure we'll find Lloyd just fine anyway…"

For the first time, Kratos responded; a slight, almost unnoticeable start at his son's name.

Emil noticed.

"Y-Yeah, remember, we're looking for Lloyd, when we find him, you can talk to him and… and everything will be right again!" Emil did not plan to adjust his revenge, but they _had_ to snap Kratos out of this. "Everything'll be alright Kratos!"

"Why would Lloyd want to talk to me?"

Emil shivered at Kratos' tone. Self-hatred laced through his words.

"W-what are you talking about Kratos? Of course Lloyd would want to talk to you, you're his dad!"

Emil said nothing, waiting to see how Kratos accepted Marta's optimism.

"…What kind of father abandons his son…" Kratos' voice was soft, pained. "What kind of father strikes out at his own son? What kind of father asks his son to take the responsibilities of the world's sins on his shoulders and stands in the wings playing servant to his enemy?!" Kratos' voice grew louder with every question until he was shouting. "Lloyd deserves so much more than I, the abhorred, broken, bringer of misery! I have done naught but destroyed his life with my presence."

Kratos was shaking in his self-hatred.

"K-Kratos, don't say things like that! You're our friend, and I'm sure that Lloyd would love to talk to you!" Marta cried again. "No one would blame you for what you did, I'm sure! L-Lloyd just doesn't know it's you…"

"How could he not? I'm playing his enemy again; siding with his enemies. I have never… I am a monster."

"Kratos stop talking like that right now! You've never done anything to hurt Lloyd, how could you? He's your son! You love him! Parents and children should always love each other. We've seen how you talk about Lloyd, how much you love him. There's no way you could have hurt him, ever."

A strange sound emanated from Kratos; at first, Emil was convinced that he was choking, but no; he was _laughing._ It was a brittle, broken, sound. Terrifying even, had he finally lost the last traces of his sanity?

"You claim I "couldn't hurt him"? I have. So many times, I've caused my son pain, loss. Kidnapped his friends, murdered… Oh Anna, how could I?!" He buried his face in his hands though no tears fell. "Why? Why?!"

Marta wanted to comfort him, wrap him in her arms as he had for her, but, somehow, she did not quite dare. Her sense of self-preservation overthrew her desire to help her friend. Emil was much the same.

"Kratos, whatever you did, it was for the best. I'm sure you knew what you were doing. I know you could never have hurt Lloyd, or anyone else. I'm sure that whatever happened when Lloyd was abandoned, you did your best. It's not your fault."

At her words, he hissed viciously.

"It _is_ my fault, and no one could possibly say otherwise. If not for my foolish actions, she would still be alive. Lloyd could have grown up my son. Not another man's. If I hadn't… If I hadn't…"

"Kratos, it's not your fault she's dead, it's not like you killed her!"

"But I did."

It was in these two simple words that the world seemed to come crashing down upon them.

"What?!"

"Impossible, you couldn't have."

"N-no!"

"Kvar, that vicious, sadistic bastard removed her exsphere and she… turned into a monster. She…" his voice cracked, "attacked, but I could not hurt her. Impossible. She returned to herself for a moment and begged me to kill her. And then she was gone, and going after Lloyd and Noishe. They were too near the edge of the cliff." His eyes flashed up the sloping cliff in front of him, than back down. "I attacked. She fell, somehow, still alive, with Noishe and Lloyd. The Desians attacked. I could not go down after them until it was too late. There were only the corpses of the damned Desians that had come with Kvar. Those I had killed as well…"

His eyes glazed with the memories of that night; watching her body morph into the giant green… thing. Her heart shattering, agonized screams. Lloyd's crying, Noishe's howls. The sound of her weak barely controlled voice begging for the end of her life. The hiss and burn of her flesh as Flamberge slipped into her heart. The infuriated scream as the monster that had once been his beloved toppled over the side of the cliff. The last screams of his son as he was pulled down with his mother…

"I searched for hours. Calling their names, but there was no sign of Anna, Lloyd, or Noishe._ He_ finally stopped me. "Kratos," he begged me, "Kratos, come back to us. We _need_ you. They cannot be saved but _she_ can. Anna knows her pain, she would want you to do everything you can to help her." "Please Kratos, we need you!" He didn't need me; he just needed the damn pact with Origin!" Kratos' voice had gone bitter with hatred, as he had quoted the unknown friend.

"Kratos… how could you?" Marta whispered.

Emil felt the same, how_ could_ he? How could he have killed the one he loved, even if she had asked him to…?

"So I returned with Mithos," Kratos continued, as though he had not been interrupted. "Fourteen years later I met the man that my son had become. Became the leader of the journey that would sacrifice his dear friend. Against my better judgment, I bonded with him again… and betrayed him. I took his friends, his reality from him. How he could have handled the earth-shattering reality was, and still is, beyond me.

"And all because I was a fool who did not check the locals' homes for my son. All because Mithos took me away from him and did not search himself. Simply because fate decreed it, Lloyd saved the world."

Kratos, though he finished his story with flourish, still sounded disgusted with himself.

"The world is now better off without me. As it has always been."

"_What?!"_

Although Emil did not hear the shouted question, he felt the waves of passion and shock that emanated from the small Alarune behind him.

"_Master Kratos, what would Lloydie say if he heard you talking like that?"_

For the first time, Kratos was really listening to any of them. Emil and Marta both remained silent as they watched the seemingly one-sided conversation.

"_Please, you has to have more faith in Lloyd than that. He _wants_ you around. You knows he does. He's said it before that you can't end you life yet. You is needed and loved. Remember the seal of Origin? Remember what he said? He told me about it. Please, stop saying things like that!"_

"_Soph, don't talk about things you don't understand…"_ Nero whispered from beside the Alarune.

"_Don't you talk, Nero, please Master Kratos, Lloyd wouldn't want…"_

"Each of us only gets one life…" Whispered Kratos softly to himself, "Once you end your life, it is over. You can die any time you like, but you can only live once." The familiar words felt warm on his tongue.

"Kratos, we're… sorry." That was all Marta could say.

"Yeah, w-we've never been in something like that. It was an impossible decision that you had to make; anyone else would have done exactly the same thing. We don't deserve to judge you."

"You do. But I suppose that my judgment should be preserved until our journey is completed."

With a soft sigh, Kratos rose, he was still far from his usual self, but he was speaking and moving. That was as much as Emil could have asked for.

"Let us go and visit the dwarf, Dirk."

………………

It was long past midday when they reached the Temple of Martel on the far side of Iselia. The walk had been a long one because they had chosen to walk around town instead of through it and risk having to face the Mayor again. Moreover, the town's people whom had witnessed their strange behavior would most likely have been spreading rumors all through the day. There would be no face unturned toward their small group.

That and the monsters and Tenebrae had decided that they wanted to walk or fly in the open. The Centurion's Shadow was not the most comfortable way of travel after all. So the party of ten wandered far around the small village and into the sanctuary that was the Temple of Martel.

"_KRATOS AURION, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR DAYS FOR YOU TO COME! GET YOUR ASS MOVING, I KNOW YOU CAN GO FASTER THAN THAT!"_

Noishe was waiting for them, his mental screaming echoing across the miles of flat plane that separated them.

"My dear man, I do believe that you have gotten yourself into a bit of trouble."

"Noishe has a tendency to be melodramatic." Kratos had yet to regain his usually cool and haughty self, yet it was coming back slowly.

"What are you guys talking about? I don't see anyone." Emil said.

"I told you, you're not allowed to have conversations we don't get!" huffed Marta.

"_KRATOS, I'M GETTING IMPATIENT! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW OR I'M COMING OVER THERE-!!!"_

Noishe did not wait long enough for Kratos to even react, but took off running in their direction. It was a few seconds before he was in view of the large white and green protozoan.

"Hey, it's that weird dog-thing that tackled Kratos yesterday!" said Marta, "I hope he doesn't tackle you again Kratos…"

"_YOU CAN COUNT ON IT, GIRLY!"_ screamed the Protozoan over the mental waves.

"This should be interesting," said Tenebrae smugly.

Noishe hit like a hurricane; a large furry hurricane. He leapt at Kratos with enough force to knock him down. With his paws on the man's shoulders, Noishe licked his old friend's face with a large, wet tongue.

"_Where have… you been? I've… been waiting. What's going… on? Is… something happening? Are… we restarting Cruxis? Will there be bacon? Or… that stuff that we used to get in Luin, what was that called?" _Noishe said in-between large, wet licks. He stopped to ponder the name of some long-forgotten treat and Kratos shoved him off, grumbling slightly.

"It is good to see you as well old friend."

"Kratos… can you _understand_ it? I thought you could only understand your monsters…"

"_That's real nice; I am so not a monster. I am one of the proud, the grate, the amazing, Protozoans!"_

Emil jumped a foot in the air and Marta let out a little shriek; apparently Noishe had let the two of them in on his mental conversations. That was one of the "magical" properties of Protozoans; if you were worthy (as in you did not irritate the creature) they allowed you to listen into their thought-conversations. The highest form of being had no voices but a telepathic link. There were no liars in Protozoan communities; no one could say one thing and think another.

"_Welcome to the community kiddies."_

"H-how is it doing that?"stuttered Emil.

"Why can I hear it?"

"It is Protozoan telepathic communications. A very advanced species; the Protozoans were on this planet thousands of years before the Elves arrived on Derris Kharlan," explained Tenebrae. "He is much older than humans, half-elves, even the Summon Spirits."

"Wait, so this… um…"

"_Noishe."_

"Noishe, right, so Noishe was around before Ratatosk?"

"_Yup, back when the world was quiet; it was kinda boring without all you people the screw it up."_

"How kind of you Noishe." Kratos almost rolled his eyes at his friend; sometimes Noishe could be very blunt.

"_I was around before you were even thought of. Ahh, the good ol' days!"_

"Noishe," said Kratos, cutting across the Protozoan's reminiscing. "We are looking for Dirk; we need to speak to him."

"_This about Lloyd?"_ And Noishe could also be very intelligent. _"I've been worried about him. He dropped me off with that stupid Dwarf; got a call from Yuan; that bastard…"_

"Noishe, be careful what you say." It sounded like Kratos was merely reminding the Protozoan about his language; but the creature caught the subtle hinting that Kratos injected into his words.

"_Right, right, whatever. Anyway, Dirk's in the Temple; he was hired to fix it up after that Vidar guy crashed around inside. And this place got a bunch of seismic activity during the Kharlan Tree freak-out."_

"Right," murmured Kratos; he still felt that it was much more he and Yuan's fault that Palmacosta had been destroyed that Lloyd or Colette's. He could hardly blame himself in front of Lloyd, however.

"_I'll wait out here for you. If he comes out without you, I'll stop him. It's time I took revenge for the nasty goop he gave me for dinner last night."_

"We appreciate that."

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**Well, that was utter crap. Sorry about the B.S. that was chapter 26, it was better the first time I wrote it. I'm also being (as my friend so accurately puts it) a "dyslectic typer".**

**Anyway, next chapter will be lighter, more Noishe action, and a bit of "straightening out" of the plot. Noishe is a bright one. So please keep on reading!**

**Oh, and Rouge wanted to say a few words.**

**R&R**

**The disgruntled,**

**Yoshi**

_**Hey this is Yoshi's Beta, Rouge, or better known on fanfiction as Christina Jayne. I would just like to apologize if my beta-ing isn't top knotch but sometimes I have my brother, mother, and father in the same small room as me when I beta, and it makes it awkward so I sometimes miss a few things. So sorry.**_

_**~Christina Jayne**_


	27. In Which Important Things are Realized

**Chapter 27**

**Once again I'm writing in the car. Generally that spells disaster, however, I need headway so, let's go! Vanilla Coke plus a mystery/comedy **_**Chibi Vampire**_** novel and **_**Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince**_** finished, we'll see just how nuts I am subconsciously right now.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.**

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Finding Dirk was far easier than locating Kratos; he was merely at the back of the main entrance hall and was spotted instantly by all. The short, red-skinned man was wearing his usual dwarven-styled vest and pants with heavy work boots and suspenders that looped off his shoulders and hung past his knees. He was only about half the size of Emil, who was, by no accounts, overly tall.

Marta, once again acting as the group's communicator, marched straight over to Dirk, and asked where Lloyd Irving's father, Dirk, was. Kratos had forgotten that she and Emil had yet to realize, despite having seen and spoken to Noishe, that this was the very man they wished to speak to.

"Well, yer talkin' to him. What can I do for ya?"

"You're Lloyd Irving's father?" Emil looked shocked; apparently, he had never encountered a dwarf before. Or, rather, as Kratos reminded himself, Ratatosk had no memory of meeting any. Granted, dwarves had never had much contact with the Summon Spirits, however, he was sure that the ancient spirit would have at least _seen_ a dwarf before…

"We're not linked by blood, but he's mah son." The dwarf's answer did not warm anyone to him.

"We're looking for him and wondered if you had spoken to him lately."

"No, I haven' seen him since he dropped Noishe, that animal you saw outside, off six months ago. He said he had to save a friend and that he had to travel light. Haven' seen him since."

"Oh, we're sorry to have-."

"How can you talk about that _murderer_ like that? After what happened in Palmacosta, how can anyone stand up for him?!" Emil's eyes flashed Ratatosk red.

"I know ma' son; he wouldn' do somthin' like that. Not to Palmacosta, not anywhere. I didn' raise a boy who runs from his responsibilities. And he never liked the Church enough to honestly join forces with 'em, even if he was gonna do somethin' like that." Dirk was painting after his spiel.

"Yes, that's what the Mayor said as well. We're very sorry for angering you. Thank you for your help, we'll be going now…" Marta looked awkwardly between the three males around her; taking Emil's short temper, Kratos unstable emotional state, and Dirk's persona; she should get them out of their soon.

"No, wait, I feel bad for not helpin' you. Why don' you come over for supper and I'll see if there's anythin' I can do for ya. You seem like good people."

"T-that's very kind of you, but I'm not sure…" Marta looked over at Kratos, "what do you think…?"

"…" Kratos glanced over at Emil who was not meeting anyone's eye. Feeling Kratos' eyes on him, he gave a jerky nod of consent; apparently he felt it was in their best interest to take the offer. "I have no problem," said Kratos in a lifeless voice.

"Then," said Marta with a slightly forced smile, "we'd be most thankful to accept your offer."

………………

The walk back was long and, to say the least, extensively awkward. Dirk did not seem to feel particularly friendly to anyone but Marta, and Kratos and Emil's antagonistic attitudes did not better their situation. In addition, Dirk missed out on much of the conversation and commentary created by the sarcastic Noishe. The large majority of this conversation being made of jokes at the dwarf's expense.

At several points, both Emil and Marta had to stifle laughter. Kratos, far too use to the Protozoan's jokes, remained listless and lifeless though the entire journey. Moreover, what with most of their party forced to hide with the Centurion, odd uncomfortable grouching could sometimes be heard, most likely made by Nero, Isho, or both.

They once again skirted Iselia, this time, however, it was on Dirk's orders. He mumbled something about not wanting to run into the "pot-bellied ass of a Mayor" to which Noishe readily agreed. Luckily for the group though, twilight was nearly scarce of monsters; it was the time when the day-dwelling and nocturnal monsters passed.

Both Emil and Marta tensed as they reached the place where Kratos had earlier been found, he, however, merely passed by the cliff without as much as a glance. Whether this was because he had forgotten where they were or because he was refusing to show weakness in front of a hated "adversary" Emil and Marta never found out because the passed it and then the Human Ranch before a word was said between the four of them.

The real reason that Kratos did not seem to be there was simply that: his mind was far off, in a different time. The path they beat toward Dirk's cottage had sent his mind spinning back to the day when he had first spotted his son; when he had saved Lloyd from the Renegades back at the Temple of Martel…

But his mind would not stay in one place for more than a moment; his thoughts were spinning in several different places at once. Noishe barking in his ear, Lloyd's voice echoed in his other, thoughts of Anna, Lloyd, Mithos, Martel, Yuan, and even Kvar spun around his head.

"Welcome to mah humble home," said Dirk brightly upon entering the clearing.

"_Whoopdie-friggkin'-doo," _said Noishe sarcastically.

"How cute!" said Marta, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"…" Neither Emil nor Kratos said anything for fear of sounding too sarcastic themselves.

"Anywa' let's go in, I'll whip us up somethin for dinner and you can stay the night."

"Thanks very much!" said Marta sweetly and Emil nodded his consent.

"Thank-you, however, I think I shall stay out here for now. I have a bit of a headache and I think some fresh air will help, if you do not mind."

"Not at all," said Dirk brightly, "but ya know, I never learned yer names. As ya know, I'm Dirk."

"I'm Marta."

"Emil."

"Kratos Aurion." A strange urge to shock Dirk by telling him his full name struck Kratos and he had the satisfaction of watching the dwarf's eyes widen and his mouth slide open in a small gape.

"Kratos Aurion? Well tha' was the name of bast- er…I mean the mercenary that went on the Journey of Regeneration!" Kratos was not so far gone as to miss what Dirk nearly said about him; he was almost glad, he now had more reason to hate the dwarf. "T-that's a coincidence!" Dirk tried to cover his slip.

"Yes…" Kratos tried not to glare too much, though he could not stop a bit of his infamous "death glare" from sliping. "I shall wait out here, thank you."

"See ya Kratos, get better…"

"I'll bring out some food when it's done. Noishe, don't bother him, I mean it!" Dirk snapped the last part at Noishe who stood next to Kratos, mimicking his friend's glare.

As the three disappeared into the cottage, Noishe turned to Kratos and said, _"It's cool if I "bug" you right?"_

"Perfectly fine. It _is_ good to see you again old friend."

"_Yup, thought you'd missed me. So…" _Noishe chirped mentally, _"what the hell is going on? I mean, last I heard you were on Derris Kharlan chillin' with the soulless… What happened? I mean, I know Dirk's not the brightest crayon in the box, but why didn't he figure out who you were, or the Mayor, or Colette?"_

"To be quite honest, I am not sure. Yuan was in contact with me while I was on Derris Kharlan through the Trees. He told me about what was happening on Symphonia. He said that he wanted me back, said something about needing my help. I agreed and he explained that he and Origin had set a "time relapse" on the spell that sent myself to Derris Kharlan…" as Kratos said this, he and Noishe moved toward Anna's grave.

A new wave of sorrow washed down on Kratos; however, having expected this, he was able to continue talking… until he saw Flamberge. His eyes widened at the sight of his sword and his mouth formed unvoiced questions.

"_Oh, that. Lloyd put it there,"_ explained Noise, _"I guess he wanted a little bit of Daddy to be with Mommy."_

For the first time that day, Kratos felt tears welling up in his eyes.

"_Kid's a bit sentimental. Of course, we all know that comes from his _mom. _Yup, mmhmm. Anyway, you were saying…?"_

"I-I returned despite the warnings that he gave: "May disappear from the face of existence" "Be forgotten by everyone that ever knew you…" and so on. I landed in Palmacosta, during the Blood Purge of all times, and met Lloyd. He did not seem to realize it was me so I assumed it was as Yuan had warned: everyone had forgotten me."

"_Well, quite obviously that's not true. I know who you are."_

"Yes, thank you, I had figured that out on my own. Anyway; Marta needed my help after the Blood Purge and…" Kratos explained what had happened after he had joined forces with Marta and Emil. The Pact with Ratatosk, his "pet" monsters, Yuan, Lloyd, and his many run-ins with the Chosen of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla; it took quite some time and Dirk brought food for both parties before Kratos had finished. He handed something that looked like stew to Kratos and a bowl of leftovers that smelled revolting to Noishe.

"_Dude, can I have that? I wouldn't expect you to eat it, and I wouldn't feed this to a dog, let alone a Protozoan."_

"Agreed." Kratos handed hi s bowl over to the Protozoan and unceremoniously dumped Noishe's bowl into the bushes behind them.

Once the story was completed, Noishe let out a long, low whistle. How the Protozoan had learned to do that was far beyond Kratos, however, the desired affect got across.

"_Major suckyness, freaky, seriously. I've never heard of something like this happening, I mean, if it were something that wiped memories permanently then you would probably have amnesia too, and neither Yuan nor I would have remembered at all. You'd be dealing with breaking the laws of reality, in which case there'd be some screwed-uped-ness going down trying to eliminate you."_

"Wouldn't that explain the disasters that have been going on?"

"_Nah, they started before you got here. Nope, this is something tampering with people. Screwing with their heads. It'll be someone really powerful, but with not enough power to control me. So it's not gunna' be easy to figure out. There are a lot of forces that fall into those categories: Summon Spirits, Demons, etc. Hell, maybe there's a Protozoan that we don't know about."_

"That is specific."

"_Hey, I'm trying to help here! Anyway, as with the whole Yuan thing, you know him too well too put him in to your calculations. Knowing him, he's probably just screwed up and therefore f'ing with your statistics."_

"Unfortunately I fear you are right. What about Lloyd?"

"_Now that one's difficult. He _is_ the Eternal Swordsman, which gives him superpowers that the norm doesn't have. But he is also only part human, so it may only work on those who are know species."_

"Then why could Tenebrae remember who I was?"

"'_Cause you told him. He might have put two and two together if you hadn't said anything, but he's also a super-powerful being. That makes a difference."_

"Wouldn't Yuan, too, be considered a "super-powerful being"?"

"_Well… I guess, but nobody would have expected you to come into almost immediate contact with something like him, let alone reveal yourself to him, he's kinda' considered your enemy after all. Logic dictates that you avoid Ratatosk and his little pets as much as possible, granted you were never one for logic. So the one who put this "spell" on you probably didn't or doesn't know you very well."_ Noishe was nodding with every word he said, as though all of this made perfect sense. _"Besides, Yuan was drunk when you saw him. That dictates a lot when you think about it."_

"Only too true. So, what you are saying is that this was a, for the most part, weak forgetful spell placed on the world by a decidedly strong Summon Spirit or Demon."

"_Most likely Demon. You must have felt the amount of demonic interference that's been going on lately."_

"As a matter of fact, I have. Hima is over run by monsters at the moment."

"_Ha ha, sucks to be them!"_

"…" Kratos said nothing, mulling over Noishe's deductions. It made sense; usually these types of spells had obvious limitations. Protozoans and half-angels were two things that could easily be overlooked as they were rare, even unique, and their mana was difficult to control. Magic, such as the type used to edit others; do more than the destructive magic used in battle, were rare and usually held only by Protozoans, demons, and Summon Spirits. And only the most powerful at that. A demon playing this sort of trick would make perfect sense.

However, editing the laws of reality, making a decision that would knowingly change the course of history or the future, could have brought about a mass memory wipe, but Kratos, himself, would probably have lost his memory as well, and Lloyd and Noishe and Tenebrae. It would have been as if he had never existed. It was also true that the forces of the Universe would be trying to wipe him out.

No, interference was the most likely theory.

………………

"So, what can you tell us about Lloyd, Mr. Dirk?" asked Marta pleasantly as she blew on a spoonful of her dinner. In all honesty, her mind was only half on what she was doing; most of her thoughts were on Kratos. Nothing that had happened that day had made remotely any sense. Noishe, Lloyd, Anna, the Mayor, Emil, Dirk, Kratos, himself… So much information had been pushed on them that she felt like her head was going to explode.

"Well, I found him with his dying mother. She asked meh to look after her son. So I took him as mah own. I guess his father was already dead, or she thought he would be. I dropped him off at mah house then went back for her body. Anna, she had said her name was. I made her a grave, it's outside mah house. Lloyd went to school in Iselia; he had two good friends; Colette Brunel, and Genis Sage. Genis' older sister was the teacher at his school."

"Oh, we heard she was back in town, do you think she'd be able to help us?"

"Perhaps, Raine has been lookin' fer Lloyd fer a few months now. Maybe she's found somethin. She'd be the one with the knowin' connections. If it were me, I'd ask that blue-haired bastard. If anyone's gonna know, it'll be him. Mark mah words. I'd send you to see him, but I don' know where he is ma'self."

"Blue…haired…" Emil looked up and caught Marta's eye. Yuan, he seemed very intricately sewn into Lloyd's life.

"Y-you talk like you don't like him…?"

"I don', but I'm jumpin' ahead o'ma'self. On the Day O' Prophesy 'e went with Genis and Colette to receive the Oracle, Colette's the Chosen, ya' see. Well, the Desians attacked, trying to stop the Regeneration; they fought, but at that time, Lloyd wasn't too good a fighter, tha's when Kratos, not _your_ Kratos, another, stepped in. He saved…"

Marta's mind was on overload as Dirk told his story. They learned the basics of the Regeneration, Dirk, of course, excluded the things that he had been told not to tell to the public. Renegades, Desians, Cruxis, Mithos, etc. were left from the tale; however, it still made for a good story.

Lloyd's _father_ Kratos was explained, as was Yuan, sort of. The angels "forgotten" but Dirk's message made sense.

All too soon, he sent them to bed, up in Lloyd's old room. He went to check on the other Kratos.

What Dirk found was not what he had expected, though, somehow, it seemed… right. The man sat with his back against Anna's grave, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, which was pulled up over his leg for easy access. His other hand rested against the stone grave. Noishe rested his head against Kratos' leg, and the man spoke softly to the large silver and green dog.

It was bizarrely picturesque.

"Will ya be turnin' in too?"

"Perhaps later, it is relaxing out here."

"Right, well, just ask if ya need anything. Come on Noishe."

The dog did not move, despite Dirk's calls.

"I will watch him, it is fine."

"I wouldn't wanna ask ya to do anything…"

"It is fine, really."

"Well, if ya insist."

Dirk turned from the man, dog, and grave. The cicadas humming softly in the warm night air, the winter chills never reached this far, Dirk thought he could make out Kratos saying something, but when he turned back to glance at the man, he found Kratos laid back, eyes closed, head against the tombstone.

He must had simply imagined it…

………………

Yuan hiss softly at Lloyd as they watched from the bushes, not two yards from where Kratos and Noishe, seemingly, slept; "Lloyd, I doubt that just because he had a strange liking of your mother's grave and talks to Noishe that he is your father."

"Just wait, I _know_ he's dad. You'll see."

They had only been there minutes, but it seemed to Lloyd that all the proof in the world sat before him, on his mother's grave.

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**Hmm… I think I liked that. Noishe should have made things clearer to everyone. The answer is there… somewhere. **

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	28. In Which Paul Disapears

**Sort of a filler-y chapter, just have to get them to Forcy's…**

**Bit of insight on Emil, a little monster playfulness, and flirting.**

**Disclaimer: Um… I haven't bought anything of interest lately, this including Tales of Symphonia or its sequel. Yoshi no own.**

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Dirk was a kind enough host, even Emil, who was feeling decidedly antagonistic this morning, had to admit this. Kratos had spent the entire night outside with Noishe, who they could hear shouting about the disgusting state of his breakfast- last night's stew, cold- talking. He and Marta were feasting upon oatmeal and bacon that Dirk was fixing for them. Kratos eyed an apple he was holding wearily, as though fearing it poisoned.

_Wonder what would happen if it _was _poisoned…_ whispered the angry voice that had been in the back of Emil's head constantly for the last day and a half. _Foam would spew out of his mouth, or maybe his eyes would roll back and he would collapse, spasms running through his body, collapsed on the floor…_

_Shut up._ Emil told himself, he should not have been thinking such mean things about his friend. It was not just Kratos that he had been mentally cursing this morning, when Dirk had taken a drink; he had hoped that he would choke. He had hoped monsters would attack Noishe… In fact, the only person he had not found some way to sentence was Marta.

Lately, despite the fact that he had, there was really no denying it, been acting like a total ass, she had been clinging to him, trying to act like the strong, supportive friend that he had always needed. For both he and Kratos. Somehow, he actually was starting to feel something… stronger than friendship for her.

No, that was silly. Besides, despite everything she said about loving Emil, in reality, she would want someone stronger than he, someone who could protect her, not put her in danger constantly. He was the reason that she had nearly been killed in Luin, and he could not forget that. No matter what. No, she would want someone much different when she came to choosing the man she was going to marry.

Someone like Kratos.

Of course she did not _want_ Kratos; anyone with eyes could see that. He was far too serious for her, and… well, he just did not think the two of them would make a good couple. Too big an age difference, it would look silly.

Emil could tell he was just trying to reassure himself, but he really did not believe that there was even a inkling of hope for a couple like that. She was too flighty, he to unsocial. However, for some reason, it felt good to think of their flaws, and how he would fit so much better with the girl. She made him strong, gave him something to protect, while he was her guardian and the thing that held her down. The match was made in heaven… kind of.

Emil realized that he had been staring at Kratos' hands for a full minute, dwelling on his thoughts, but not taken a thing that had happened in. The mercenary was twirling the apple absent-mindedly between his hands. After a few more moments, still not noticing Emil watching him, he caught the apple in his hand and took up a sharp knife; with slow, purposeful movements, Kratos began to peel the bright red skin off the fruit. The places where the knife had been left large patches of white-green, almost slimy flesh.

"-Emil." Emil jumped when he heard his name; Marta had spoken it from beside him. He turned to look at her, but found her discussing something light and pointless with Dirk.

It took a moment for Emil's heartbeat to slow from where it had leapt when he had heard his name. A slight guilt tugged at his insides, it was not simply because hearing his name had caught him off guard that Emil had jumped; something in the way that Marta said his name, her lips caressing the syllables of his simple title, had sent shivers down his spine.

The good kind.

"_Emil,"_ the ghostly voice of Tenebrae sent his heart into overdrive again, _"do not forget that you have hungry monsters that have not eaten since breakfast yesterday."_

"O-oh, right…" Emil looked sheepishly around. Dirk and Marta were both looking like him like he had finally lost it; Kratos on the other hand must have also heard Tenebrae for he did not look surprised at Emil's outburst.

"I am going to take a walk, Emil, would you like to join me?" Kratos said as though this were the most normal thing in the world to do.

"Um… sure…" Emil glanced at Marta and gave her a "it just a Knight thing" look, or so he hoped.

When Marta still looked ready to protest, he grabbed her hand under the table and squeezed it. Her eyes widened and she looked like she wanted to squeal girlishly. Emil really did not want to be there when she exploded, so he quickly followed the retreating white coat of Kratos as he disappeared out the front door.

He let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding. Marta's reaction had been exactly what he could have, subconsciously, hoped. He stood there for a moment, dazed, and then realized that Kratos have vanished from sight. He looked around and then caught sight of Kratos' white coat in the shadow of the wall of vegetation that surrounded Dirk's home. Noishe was, naturally, with him and the monsters were crowding around him as Kratos continued to slice his apple and distribute it to their pets.

Emil, slightly stumbling over to his friends, moved closer and spoke to Kratos; "What should we make for them? I mean, we can't start a fire without Dirk getting suspicious…"

"I suppose they will just have to eat the raw fruits and vegetables," replied Kratos simply.

"R-right…" Emil blushed, having not thought of the obvious.

"_Hey Master Emil!"_

"_Sup' Emil?"_

"_WHY HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN US???"_ cried Lithos melodramatically. _"We starved for days!"_

Emil rolled his eyes, actually managing to keep cool. "Sorry, we had a lot to think about!" he said indignantly.

"_Calm down Lithos, it's not like we died or something!"_ scolded Valkie.

"_Dude, it's been less than twenty four hours. We had a late breakfast yesterday," _pointed out Isho bluntly.

"See, they're not freaking out at me!"

………………

"See ya, thanks fer comin' over, you be careful now ya hear? Goodbye!" Dirk waved as the small party disappeared into the trees. They had thanked Dirk for his generosity. Kratos had had his "emotional" goodbye with Noishe.

Echoes of his _"TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!!"_ still hung in the air. However, Kratos knew that Noishe knew that he had to stay behind and watch Anna, Flamberge, and… Dirk, despite the fact that he hated the job.

"So… what were the two of you doing this morning that I couldn't come help with?" asked Marta after they were out of Dirk's earshot, unable to stand the silence she broke it with the question.

"They had forgotten to feed the monsters and they were getting annoying."

"_No, Eon and Lithos were getting annoying, the rest of us were fine!"_ snapped Nero.

Tenebrae chuckled softly, "Whatever you say little one."

"So, where are we going next?"

"Well, remember what Dirk said? Lloyd's old teacher is supposed to be in town, he said she might be able to help us…"

Kratos shuttered, he, well, he could not say that he _hated_ Raine… perhaps it was simply that she was too nosy for her own good. She had begun to suspect him the second that he had joined the Chosen's group, if not of having alternate motives to joining the party, then simply being greedy. She had never trusted him with anything from watching her brother to navigating with the map. Of course, she had been forced to turn that over when she had gotten them hopelessly lost in Triet Desert.

Still, their relationship had never been closer than the one-word answers required when chaperoning three children around the world.

The fact that Lloyd and Raine had started becoming… closer than simply a student-teacher relationship had not heightened Kratos' opinion of the woman at all. In the last weeks of Kratos' time spent on Symphonia, their relationship had grown that they could sit silently in the same room, if both were in a good mood, and not constantly shoot glares at each other.

"No, I think that it would be in our best interest to go toward Tethe'alla and try to find Lloyd there." Kratos tried to hide the fact that he really did not want to meet this woman again.

"But Kratos, Dirk said that she's got the right contacts that would put her at the top of the list of people who'd know where he is! How can you pass up a chance like this?!"

"I simply do not believe that it would be a good idea to press our luck in this town much longer."

"Oh, fine, whatever!" Marta said in a huff. "But if we're going to Izoold to catch a boat, then we'll have to cross the desert. We should at least stay another night in Iselia to restock our supplies before we go again!"

Kratos mentally groaned. They _did_ need more supplies, however, he would have been quite content to simply avoid Iselia again…

"Paul?! Paul?!" The sharp calls cut across Kratos' thoughts. He turned, hand on the hilt of his sword, toward the source of the shouting. The bushes rustled and out stepped Raine Sage, the very person that Kratos had been so desperate to avoid.

"Paul-! Oh, pardon me." Raine looked the same as always; her bright orange coat with symbols engraved with black thread glittered in the mid-morning sunlight. Her silver hair was, though slightly longer, still swept carefully out of her face in an almost wind-blown looking style. Her icy, piercing blue eyes x-rayed each of them in turn, taking in their location, stance, clothing, and obvious personality traits.

Her eyes hovered longest on Kratos.

"My apologies for startling you." Her words were mostly focused on Kratos, "But perhaps you can help me. I'm looking for a little boy; he's about eight years old, ye high," she held her hand up to her mid-section, "wearing suspenders and carrying two swords. His name is Paul. He's been missing from Iselia for two days this morning. Have you seen him?"

"Wait… Paul?" Marta asked, her eyes worried, "We saw him leave town two days ago, he said something about "patrolling the haunted Ranch"."

"Ahh, so he's gone to the Ranch… thank you very much." Raine's eyes flashed in Kratos' direction once more before she took off running in the direction of the Ranch.

"Serves him right for looking up to Lloyd so much, besides, he's the apprentice of the "great Lloyd" he'll be fine." grumbled Emil.

"I understand your grudge against Lloyd, but Paul has nothing to do with that!" scolded Marta.

Emil turned away, looking furious. Pent up anger at the world still glistened in his eyes.

"_My_ Emil wouldn't say things like that. _My_ Emil is better than that."

"Whatever!" Emil turned and met Marta's eyes full on, his own sparked red, but for only a moment, fading back to green as soon as it had come. His hands were clenched in fury. "I don't even remember you! Stop trying to make me into something I'm not! I don't need you telling me who I'm supposed to be!"

"I-I'm sorry…"

"No! You keep making me into somebody I'm not. I don't-!"

"Emil!" although Kratos' voice was soft, there was a dangerous edge to it and he cut across Emil's shouts easily. "Emil, I understand your frustration, however, Marta is not to blame. Yelling will only make things worse."

"B-but… yes _sir."_ Emil's words were riddled with frustration and anger.

"Marta…" Kratos kept his voice low, but turned his eyes to Marta. She shivered under his cool gaze. "Emil is whoever he wishes himself to be. There is no way to control him. Do not try to control him."

When Kratos finished his lecture, both Emil and Marta were looking embarrassed. They return walk to Iselia to restock was made in agitated silence.

Upon entering the town, however, a disturbing discovery was made:

"Oh, Paul, if only I had been more careful! I can't believe he's disappeared!" A young mother was standing against the schoolhouse, her eyes full of tears. Kratos recalled seeing her once or twice on previous visits to Iselia. So she was Paul's mother…

"Don't worry Lilia, Professor Sage will find Paul." One of her friends comforted her, her arms around Lilia in an awkward hug.

Lilia sniffed, "I-I know, but I lose Paul, well I just don't know what I'll do!"

"The Professor will find him. I'm sure she has a lead already!"

"Are you sure?" A woman on the other side of Lilia spoke up, her voice full of contempt. "Professor Sage is a half-elf. We could just be putting Paul in more danger!"

"Don't say things like that!" scolded the first woman. "Professor Sage is a good half-elf. She's taken care of the Chosen, she helped save the world! I'm sure that she'll take good care of Paul."

"I-I hope so…" sniffled Lilia.

Emil, Marta, and Kratos turned away from the conversation.

"She must be Paul's mother… oh, I hope she'll be alright…"

"Yeah, but it sounds like the Professor Sage person will find him."

"Professor Sage… do you think that was the woman we met in the forest?"

"That is correct. Professor Raine Sage, she used to be the teacher at the school in Iselia," Kratos stated in monotone. "Paul will be fine."

"I-… You guys wait here, I'm going after her. Nobody should go though the Human Ranch alone. She could get hurt. I'll go and meet you back here later."

"There's no way that you're going without us!" snapped Emil. "We're supposed to protect you, how're we supposed to do that if you're running off by yourself, right Kratos?"

"Yes, it would be best if we stay together. Than we can make sure you will not get hurt."

"Thanks guys…" Marta looked marginally happier. "Let's go!"

The walk to the Human Ranch was slightly more comfortable as Emil and Marta now kept a conversation going with Kratos occasionally putting in his opinion.

"Why is it that so many people don't like half-elves?" asked Emil as they hurried thought the trees.

"Mostly because the Desians, at least most of them, were half-elves. They did so much damage that people just got really scared."

"But all half-elves aren't like that, right? I mean, that Sage person didn't sound that bad…"

"Yeah, but, I mean, it's just sort of habit I guess. Everyone's just so used to being afraid that they get suspicious before they even really know the person. Even I used to be afraid of them, way back when…"

"Yes, people fear what they do not understand. They fear half-elves because so many are Desians, because they are powerful beings, and because they have the lifespan of an elf, but thought possesses nearer to the human psyche. The combination of Human and Elf is one step closer to perfection, or, more often than not, several steps back. In a world that does not cater toward partial breeds, it is too easy to slip into hatred." Kratos spoke from experience.

"But people hate half-elves because they're Desians but if there aren't any more Desians, why do people still hate half-elves? And didn't the half-elves see that they Desians were just making things worse off for them?"

"An interesting point of view, the half-elves joined the Desians because they were being discriminated against, they felt as if it was the only way to protect themselves. Many joined for revenge, for the loved ones that died. The humans began to see themselves as correct. Half-elven children cannot control their magic, often time they were untrained, being raised by human parents, and their powers would explode and destroy something or kill someone. They were hated even more. Now, although the Desians are gone, that hatred is so deeply rooted into life that it will never truly be eliminated."

"You seem to care a lot about this type of thing Kratos, and you sure know a lot about it."

"If you would recall correctly, I, myself, am a half-elf. Understanding is not that hard to find if one looks."

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**~Kratos is a half-elf! Kratos is a half-elf!~**

**Um… next chapter should be more… interesting again.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	29. In Which Lloyd and Yuan Become Stalkers

**POV change. Today, we're diving into the minds of dear old Yuan and Lloyd. Life is good.**

**Disclaimer: I have yet to lay claim to Tales of Symphonia or its sequel. I do, however, own the names and persona of my monsters.**

**Oh, this should be fun.**

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"You know, Yuan, Forcystus' Ranch really freaks Iselia out. There's a bunch of stories about it, I mean, I'm sure that they were mostly to keep the kids away from it and stuff like that, but after a while everyone started believing them. It's kinda' funny, when I was there dropping off Noishe at Dad-Dirk's I talked to the city guard and they were telling me that they were convinced that they saw the ghost of Forcystus there. Funny, right?" Lloyd laughed at his story and leaned back against the tree that he was sitting by.

"Hmm…" said Yuan emotionlessly, "yes, yes, very amusing Lloyd."

"Oh, come on, it's funny how scared people can get over things like ghosts. Seriously, there's no ghost of Forcystus living in the old Ranch. Everyone in the town calls it the "Haunted Ranch". When I was still on speaking terms with Raine and Genis, they'd even started calling it that. But I don't think they believed it, the only thing the Professor- err… _Raine_ would want to do with a ghost would be study it. She'd scare Forcystus back to the Underworld he came from. Ha ha!"

"…" Yuan said nothing, but continued to pace back-and-forth in front of the Iselia Human Ranch. It had been years- sixteen to be exact- since he had come to the area, let alone the Ranch and Yuan was feeling out of his element. When he had come to Sylvarant he tended to stay away from places where Mithos had a lot of control, Iselia being the top of the list, he had only come when Cruxis work had forced him to. Otherwise, he had sent Botta, or any other Renegade, to do the work there.

"Calm down Yuan; sheesh, you're high-strung today."

"I am not _high-strung._ How would you feel if you knew half the people that used to work and live here were dead on your orders?"

"Simple, seeing as it was me who did most of the killing and I don't really feel, ya know, weird or nothin'…" This was the first time that the red-clad swordsman had really thought about the Ranch even actually havingangry spirits in it. If any place was going to be haunted in the world, it was this place; they'd destroyed the Palmacosta and Asgard Ranches, but not the Iselia Ranch. Or, for that matter, the Remote Island Human Ranch. Lloyd had avoided going there as the exspheres there were in no danger of being stolen; the existence of the Ranch was known to few and even fewer knew of its location. No prisoner was going to return and want to steel exspheres after all.

But the idea of Forcystus still wandering the halls of the Ranch seemed somehow more…_real_ than the ghost of Rodyle.

"W-what am I kidding myself? There's no thing as spirits. The ghosts we fight aren't earth-stuck souls; they're just a different breed of creature!"

"Lloyd, you're being childish."

"Well, hey, that's not fair! You're the one that got me thinking about it!"

"I suppose it just comes from being brought up in a superstitious community. The people of Ashgom, or Asgard, seemed insistent on trying to scare anyone they could. They believed that the only way to drive away spirits was with special talismans and spells. Ridiculous, some of the spells they used actually brought _more_ ghosts."

"…"

Lloyd and Yuan were stationed in front of the Iselia Human Ranch awaiting Kratos, Marta, Ratatosk, and Tenebrae. Lloyd_ the Great _was plopped unceremoniously in the lengthening grass and over-grown plant life that had won control of the slowly rusting building. Yuan was pacing around in front of the back guard wall, near where Lloyd had met Marble for the first time.

Lloyd felt his heart twist as he remembered the sweet old lady. If anyone had not deserved their fate, it was her. Her remaining family had made that clear; Cacao and Chocolate, who kept the item shop Marble in Palmacosta, had told them many stories of the elderly woman; about her famous gingerbread, the way she always took food out to the troops that protected Palmacosta. About how one evening, she did not come home. The dead haunted Lloyd's conscience every waking moment and wandered his dreams, but he could not let that stop him.

Lloyd had spent much of the past two years, right up until six months beforehand when Yuan had called him, collecting and destroying exspheres. His mother's memento was still fit comfortably onto his key-crest; although it had been doing strange things as of late.

Like, for example, giving him wings.

According to Yuan, that was the point of the Angelus Project: infinite angelic powers. Lloyd was faster, stronger, and had heightened senses that angels had, however, he had no Cruxis Crystal. The Angelus was a dormant Cruxis Crystal that took years to develop slowly into a natural part of the user's body. Soon, Lloyd would need to up-grade his key-crest to a Rune Crest in order to continue to _act_ human.

Yuan seemed to think it best that the world think that its hero was human. The normalcy was necessary to keep the peace.

Then the Vanguard had come along, as well as some uncontrollable branch of the Church of Martel that was supposedly acting under Lloyd's orders, and they began reaping chaos across the newly reunited World.

It was pissing Lloyd off.

Last he had checked, he had carefully stayed away from the Church and its favoritism, the prizes, gifts, and parties of the Tethe'allans and the festivals and fans of Sylvarant. Well, that had all gone to Hell pretty fast. He was now one of the singularly most hated (or loved) men on the face of the planet. Either you loved him, or you hated him.

Life rather sucked.

And after everything that had happened to Kratos, Lloyd's headache had spiked. He was still having a hard time figuring out why Yuan was in such total denial, but, then again, he had not wanted to hear a word in favor of him for the longest time either.

Yuan would figure it out eventually.

"Here they come, get in the bushes!" hissed Yuan.

Lloyd had learned long ago that Yuan was not the best stalker in the world, but under the circumstances, he had little other choice that to listen to his uncle. He launched himself behind the overgrown greenery and hit the dirt-and-sand ground with a soft thud. Yuan landed with cat-like grace next to him, making far less sound that Lloyd had.

"Remind me next time we do something like this to make you change into less conspicuous clothes."

Lloyd glanced down at his red shirt, dark grey pants, and red boots. "What's wrong with my clothes? I managed to save the world in them; I can stalk my dad in them!"

Yuan rolled his eyes, but said nothing; Kratos and the others were approaching the gate. Suddenly a thick, rolling fog hit. It appeared so quickly that it could have been there for weeks; it covered everything, making it impossible to see anything beyond three feet in front of you.

It did not, however, muffle hearing.

"Whoa, look at all this fog!" cried the high-pitched voice of the Marta girl.

"When did this get here?" Emil's voice was filled with the same hint of awe that Marta's had held.

"Everyone stay close; this is difficult terrain to navigate even when you can see. The Iselia Ranch is in ruins, look out for broken pieces." That was Da-Kratos, taking charge of the situation as usual.

Lloyd moved to nudge Yuan, but his elbow hit the elder man's foot; Yuan was standing. He reached up and tugged on the bottom of Yuan's cape, (he had changed into his old clothing for the mission) and hissed softly, "Get the _hell_ down here, they'll see you!"

Yuan kicked Lloyd to shut him up and Lloyd glared, though he knew Yuan could not see him. Lloyd stood silently as well. He was a few inches taller than the Seraph.

"W-who's there?!" stuttered Emil, freezing Lloyd and Yuan, neither moved a muscle.

"Emil, what are you talking about, there's nothing there," Marta must have been looking around for whatever it was that had startled the Summon Spirit.

"I… I guess it was noth-." He was cut off suddenly; it was a choked sound. There was silence for a moment, then the sounds of swords being drawn and the grunts and shouts of battle, along with clanking metal met their ears.

It had been a monster that Emil had thought he'd seen, not Yuan and Lloyd after all. Lloyd let out a long breath that he had not realized he had been holding. He exchanged a long look with Yuan: it was time they got inside. Unfortunately, Kratos and the others had the main entrance blocked by their battle, and it would be far too easy to get themselves caught if they tried to sneak by…

Lloyd turned and hoisted himself up on the thick wire fence that surrounded the Ranch. The fence had begun to sag in places and he nearly lost his grip several times on the slippery metal. It was covered in water droplets from the fog. At the top, Lloyd could see over the cloudy, white fog that covered the clearing that the Ranch sat in; the sounds of battle had subsided and they were talking again.

"Wow, Emil you spotted that monster before Tenebrae did. I'm impressed!"

"That… would be my fault. How very embarrassing." Tenebrae sounded like an unenthusiastic actor delivering his lines. He was covering for Ratatosk's lack of memory. "But you are correct Lady Marta; Emil is awakening to new powers as a Knight to protect you."

"Oh, Tenebrae, cut out the whole "Emil protecting me" thing. We're working together to protect Ratatosk. This isn't about me."

"I did not realize I was no longer being employed," grumbled Kratos.

"Is he making a _joke?_" asked Yuan disbelievingly, he had joined Lloyd at the top of the fence. "If that _is_ Kratos, then that's the first joke I've heard come out of his mouth since your mother was alive."

"Sorry Kratos!"

"Of course we need you!"

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe."

Somebody sighed, "Look, Kratos," said Emil softly, "we've all been under a lot of stress lately, and I know, for me at least, I've said some things that I didn't mean. We're all keeping secrets, and, even though that's not good for a healthy relationship, it's necessary. So, sorry for all the crap that we've been going through." Emil looked sheepish.

Marta threw her arms around Emil's neck. "Oh, Emil, you're such a strong person! I could never be so honest like that! I'm sorry too!"

Lloyd watched Kratos roll his eyes before he realized something; he could _see._ The fog had cleared somewhere when they had been listening to their exchange.

It meant something else as well; he and Yuan were sitting ducks.

"_Down!"_ Lloyd hissed at Yuan. They both leapt lightly to the ground and ducked behind a large sheet of metal that was half-embedded in the soft earth.

After a few moments of waiting, they heard the party wander into the courtyard.

"_I'm hungry!" _Lloyd heard someone, Eon assumedly, grumble.

"_I second that!"_

"_Apple doesn't last all that long when you're fighting constantly."_

"_I'm kinda' hungry too, could we eat, please?"_

"Looks like they're gonna sit down for lunch," whispered Lloyd.

"What are you talking about?"

"Should we eat before we head inside?" asked Emil.

"I concur; it would be wise to eat before going in."

"Monsters hungry again?" asked Marta, her voice hinted at… was that loneliness?

"Ha." Lloyd looked smug.

"Lucky guess. _You_ had better not be getting hungry," snapped Yuan.

"Shut up, they'll hear you."

"I'll cook," volunteered Emil. "Marta, you wanna get some wood for the fire? Kratos, where'd you put the rice?"

The soft clattering of Emil's cooking and the wind was drown-out by Marta's footsteps growing steadily closer. Lloyd and Yuan exchanged a look; she had better not look in their hiding spot…

"I wish I could make pacts with monsters…" grumbled the girl.

"Don't worry Lady Marta, you really do not want to hear what they have to say. Emil and Kratos have quite a few move responsibilities than you do. The stress of being Ratatosk's carrier is far too great to ask you to look after monsters as well." Apparently Tenebrae had chosen to float around with Marta to look for more wood.

"Yeah, but it doesn't make a difference when you think about how much extra company they get. I mean, I think of our group as being so small, just the four of us. But it must be more like having ten people in the group!"

"Believe you me, Lady Marta, it exhausting having to put up with so many personalities."

"Please make me a Knight Tenebrae!"

"Oh, Lady Marta, believe me that for your own good it is best that you do not become a Knight."

"Then can you make me a partial Knight like Kratos?"

"No, please, let us focus on the task at hand. Perhaps if you checked back there…"

Lloyd felt his heart practically stop beating. His breathing froze mid-breath and Yuan froze up next to him.

"Nah, I've got enough. It's just lunch, after all."

"Whatever you say Lady Marta." Their voices were already further away. Lloyd let his breath out with a soft sigh. Next to him he felt Yuan come alive again as well.

"Damn, that was close…" Yuan breathed. "I never liked that Centurion."

Lloyd chucked nervously.

………………

The two angels crouched in the dirt and listened to the sounds of the small group lunching behind. The scents of rice and beef wafted toward them on the slight breeze and Lloyd's stomach gave an odd rumble. He looked down and blushed; he was hungry.

Yuan sighed. "I guess you're not all angel yet. I don't suppose you came prepared…?"

Lloyd blushed again and his hand slipped behind his neck so that his elbow stuck up behind his head. "Not… exactly…"

"What would you do without me?" The elder man rolled his eyes and held out a dried oat and fruit bar. A snack used by the Renegades.

"Thanks Uncle Yuan, you're the best."

"Humph, and don't you forget it."

As Lloyd dug into the crunchy-yet-sweet treat, sounds of excitement and surprise echoed back toward them.

"Nero!"

"Oh my gosh, she's changing."

"_Oh, wow, Nero, that's so cool!"_

"_Lucky little imp, isn't she?"_

"_I think she's technically a Gremlin now, isn't she?"_

"_She's a sexy gremlin."_

Lloyd chuckled from his place awkwardly bent around the large metal sheet; he remembered the way Nero and Isho had interacted when he had been a chimera, apparently things had not changed much.

Nero herself looked fantastic. Her once purple-black fur had taken on a bluer tint, but was still that deep black. Her eyes slanted upward malevolently and when she opened her mouth, large dagger-like teeth glinted viciously.

"_Oh yeah, lookin' good Nero!"_ But it seemed her personality had not changed much.

"Congratulations Nero." Kratos actually looked… slightly proud. Lloyd felt jealousy spike momentarily, but it was almost immediately by his own feeling of pride… for Kratos. He had really gotten more friends, more people he cared about.

The handful of people that Kratos cared about had grown, Lloyd could not help but be happy for his dad.

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**Oh boy, Lloyd and Yuan have no clue what they're getting themselves into.**

**I decided to edit the Imp evolution chain just a bit. I figured the eight of them weren't getting enough love, time for a little spotlight for dear old Nero. More Lloyd and Yuan next chapter. **

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	30. In Which Lloyd and Yuan are Stalked

**Part two of Stalkers. Yuan and Lloyd run into some… otherworldly trouble.**

**I swear, actual stuff will happen in this chapter, no more of the fillerish stuff that the last two chapters have been made of.**

**Disclaimer: In Which Yoshi confesses that she does not own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World/Knights of Ratatosk.**

**No Spellchecker, Ratatosk isn't spelled wrong.**

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Not long after the spectacle of Nero's transformation, Kratos and his posse, being trailed by Lloyd and Yuan from afar, found their way into the Ranch. They were forced to enter through a back door of sorts as most of the old entrance had collapsed on top of itself. The "door" was really more of a maintenance hatch than anything. Lloyd and Yuan wandered a few minutes behind, keeping to the sides of the dark corridors in case they decided to backtrack.

It was quiet for a long time; the two stalkers slipped through the back halls, their light footfalls making no sound on the metal flooring. The Ranch looked as though Raine had gotten her way and blown it to Derris Kharlan; some walls had fallen in while others were stripped of their metal coating. Naked wires could be seen, some still sizzling with unused electricity. The underground halls were cool and damp.

"Do you hear that?" whispered Yuan at one point, "The water? The plumbing must have leaked."

"Or exploded." Yuan gave Lloyd a long, questioning look. "What? Wouldn't that be a lot of water pressure?"

"Since when do you know what water pressure is?"

"Shut up."

Suddenly the lights flickered on. Both men froze, eyes darting around; looking for the source of the disturbance. There were only a few lights that still worked; they flickered every dozen feet or so down the long hall. The sound of whirring mechanisms and clattering machinery met their ears.

"Do you know if this happens often?" hissed Yuan.

"I-I don't _think_ so. Maybe they found the light switch…"

"Lloyd, the entire building is a piece of high-tech magi-technology; you can't just flip a _light switch-."_

Yuan's speech was cut off by an eerie, echoing moan; it sent chills up Lloyd's spine and sent all of Yuan's senses screaming of danger.

"Uhggggggggggggggggg!"

"W-what is that?" whispered Lloyd.

"Who knows, but I doubt we want to stand around and find out."

The angels moved quickly down the corridor, still light-footed but with a new air of urgency about them.

Through all of their panic, however, they failed to notice the dark shadow that followed behind them…

………………

"This must be the basement and maintenance passages," stated Kratos as Marta, Emil, Tenebrae, and he stepped quietly though the underground tunnels.

"How can you tell?" asked Emil.

"If Kratos traveled with the Chosen's group, wouldn't that mean that he has been to several Ranches? I would be surprised if he had not even helped in the original conquest of this Ranch." Tenebrae looked at Kratos with mild interest as he floated along behind them.

"I suppose I was." Kratos' reply, though meant to discourage any questions, sent Emil and Marta into a frenzy as they fired out a hundred different questions; how they had gotten in, what it was like to fight a Grand Cardinal, how difficult it was to get though the place, Kratos barely had time to answer one question before the next left their lips.

"So you, Lloyd, Colette, and I guess Zelos all helped fight the leader of the Ranch?" asked Emil excitedly.

"Lloyd, the Chosen of Tethe'alla, Ms. Sage, and I were in the team that went after Forcystus, correct. The battle was not easy; however, we managed to succeed."

"Wow… you must be really strong Kratos!" Marta looked at Kratos with large, adoration-filled eyes.

"I have spent the better part of my life learning to fight; I should hope that I am an acceptable swordsman."

"So how old _are_ you Kratos? I mean, can't half-elves life to be like a thousand years old, or something?"

"Two hundred, fifty-seven." It was the first large number that came to Kratos' head.

"Wow, you should be good if you're that old!"

"…" All of the sudden lies that Kratos was spurting were taking their toll on him. It was times like these when he wished he had not left Derris Kharlan. He was not a half-elf; he was an _angel_. He was not two hundred fifty-seven; he was over _four thousand_ years old. And he was beginning to grow sick and tired of everything.

………………

"See, Yuan, how would anyone but Dad know that stuff?"

"I don't know, Lloyd, however, I want solid proof that he is, in fact, your father."

"Seriously, Yuan, what's it gonna take for you to believe me that that's Dad?!"

"He could easily be an imposter," snapped Yuan. "I need to see something that is so uncontroversial that he could be no one except Kratos."

"Un-con-tra-vers-el? …But Dad's gotta act around the kids, besides, you heard what he said, something about being a half-elf. That's his explanation. Look, he even said he was Dad _to my face._ I know I wasn't tricked or something!"

"Lloyd…" Yuan cut off as an echoing moan met their ears. "Damn, it's following us. Let's go."

"Right behind you Yuan."

Lloyd ran just a few steps behind the ex-Renegade as they attempted to escape the thing that had been following them since they had entered the Ranch. Ghost or not, anyone… or thing that knew what they were doing could get them caught. If their cover was blown, they would have to fight Ratatosk, which was the last thing that they needed to do right now, and Yuan would never know how close they were to Kratos…

He glanced behind to see a large, dark shadow looming up behind them. It was moving faster than either of the angels could on foot.

"D-dammit!" hissed Lloyd.

"_I am Forcystus, one of the Desian Five Grand Cardinals. I shall not die so easily!"_

The flush that had begun to redden Lloyd's face from the running drained away; his skin turning icy. There really was a ghost of Forcystus!

"I-It's FORCYSTUS!" shouted Lloyd.

"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Yuan.

"_I will destroy all those who dare enter my domain!"_

"He's gonna kill us, run!" Lloyd sprinted as fast as he could down the narrow, winding tunnel.

"Lloyd, wait, that's the way that Kratos went!" But Lloyd was too far away, and in far too much of a panic to hear Yuan's warning. Glancing behind, Yuan realized why Lloyd was running. There was indeed a large black shadow that was coming toward him. Yuan swore loudly and sprinted after the Eternal Swordsman.

Seraph or not, the idea of a ghost that wanted vengeance on his soul was enough to shake Yuan to his core. With a stifled gasp, Yuan pushed himself to move faster. With a burst of angelic strength, he went flying down the corridor behind his godson-

-and into Kratos.

"What the hell?" The question came from both men as the stared at each other. Deep emerald eyes met dark ruby and both saw the old friend that they had been without for two years. Something nagged at the back of Yuan's thoughts; however, it was shoved aside to be examined later. Some echo of forgotten information that was fighting to return to him.

"It really is you…" whispered Yuan.

"Finally," said Kratos in a half-sarcastic tone. "I was wondering when you were going to come around."

"Shut up." It was the first comeback that jumped to Yuan's mind; only after it had left his mouth did he realize how idiotic it sounded. "We should move, I'm being chased."

"Chased? By whom?"

Yuan stood, as did Kratos, and did not look his friend in the eye. Marta and Emil, as well as Tenebrae, Lithos, Isho, Valkie, and Eon all looked at the blue-haired Seraph. He muttered something incomprehensible and made a noncommittal gesture with his hands.

"I'm sorry, Yuan, but could you repeat that?" Kratos stuck an eyebrow in the air.

Yuan repeated and, though it was louder, it was equally difficult, if not more so, to understand.

"What was that?"

"…The ghost of Forcystus."

At this Emil, Marta, and Tenebrae all burst out laughing. Even Kratos had to disguise a snort. Yuan's cheeks held a barely noticeable red flush.

"Yuan, I did not think you still held your childhood superstitions. Or…" Kratos' face darkened, "have you been drinking again? Somehow that would not surprise me."

"Oh, Shut up Aurion! You were just as superstitious as I was as a child. And your son was just as willing to believe it!"

"Lloyd is here?"

"Somewhere, he ran off when the… spirit began following us."

"There is no ghost of Forcystus, Yuan. Honestly, you would think that after all the things that you have seen… you're afraid of _ghosts?"_

"T-there are ghosts here?!" cried Emil, looking panicked.

"From what I've seen… yes."

"What?!" Marta's voice shot up several octaves.

"Yuan, stop trying to scare them. It is not funny."

"Oddly enough, it's not a joke."

Emil and Marta were both shaking and clinging to each other, though Kratos expected that Marta was more thrilled than scared.

Then the shadow appeared around the corner again…

Marta and Emil both let out strangled cries of terror, Kratos and Yuan reached for their weapons, and the monsters tensed. The large, dark… _thing_ moved closer, the flickering light casting double against the wall… or, was it? As the shape moved closer, it seemed to shrink and… double. It was not one creature, but _two._

From around the bend in the hallway Nero and Sophie emerged, openly smirking.

"_Sorry LK, did we scare ya?"_

"What… the… _hell?"_ demanded Yuan. "That's what I've been freaking out about? Your _pets_ were trying to scare us?!"

"_Payback, Blue, whadaya' expect?"_

"Unbelievable…" Kratos face-palmed as Emil and Marta awkwardly realized just how close they had been hugging one another. "Apparently it was revenge for Asgard."

"…" Yuan looked like he wanted very desperately to annihilate something. "Kratos, you need to teach your pets some manners."

"Wait… so Nero and Sophie were the ghost?" Emil looked embarrassed.

The Alraune wore a look of over-exaggerated innocence while the Gremlin looked impishly gleeful.

"_Had to do it, it was just too good to pass up. Heard them talkin' 'bout the "Ghost of Forcystus" and… well…"_

"…" Kratos seemed to be at a loss for words. On the one hand, he was extremely displeased at the immaturity that both had shown; on the other, he was… rather impressed at how well they had executed the split-second plan. "Just don't do it again."

"_What?"_ Yuan looked scandalized. "Just don't do it again?! No punishment, nothing?"

Kratos rolled his eyes, the Seraphim had been friends for a solid four thousand years, and they each knew the other's limitations and buttons that they could push. It was easy enough for Kratos to know that Yuan, though grudgingly, was impressed with the joke. But there was no way in hell he was going to admit that.

"Shouldn't we go find that damn son of yours Kratos?" grumbled Yuan.

"Find… Paul!" Marta looked horrified, "Oh no! We totally forgot what we were doing here in the first place; we have to find Paul!"

"Then it appears you'll have to put up with my presence for a while longer and we shall search together."

With those words, Yuan strode down the hall looking haughty. Kratos rolled his eyes at his oldest friend and then followed, Emil and Marta not far behind.

………………

When Lloyd stopped running, he realized, much to his great dismay, or so he _thought_ that was the word, that Yuan was no longer behind him. Although, on the plus-side, he seemed to have lost Forcystus… He looked around at the unfamiliar chamber and swore loudly; he had no idea where the hell he was.

"Dammit, Yuan, where are you?" he hissed. Lloyd weighed his choices mentally; stay and hope he was found and rescued, feeling like an idiot he might add, or walk off in search of Yuan… somehow option two appealed to him more.

Lloyd took off sauntering though the passage, humming tunelessly to himself, hopping the strange footstep-like clattering he was hearing was simply his imagination running away with him again.

It could honestly be said that very little phased Lloyd Irving-Aurion; sure, he was jumpy and quick to have whatever annoyed-or scared- him at sword-point, however that was just the way he liked things. He had tried to tone it down, but it just did not seem to work all that well.

So hearing footsteps getting louder and louder naturally set off all of Lloyd's danger senses. When he could hear them just around a turn in the long passage; Lloyd leapt around the corner, shoving whatever thing-be it ghost or otherwise- against the wall with his sword against the offending neck.

"L-Lloyd?!"

"Raine?! What are you doing here?"

"Where have you been? You've had us all so worried!"

"How'd you get in here? Why are you in here?"

"Lloyd!" Lloyd flinched; Raine was using her "teacher voice" on him. "Answer my questions!"

"Um… D; none of the above?" Lloyd carefully took his sword off her neck, flinching at the thin, red line that was drawn across it. "Sorry Professor…" He was so going to pay for this… knowing Raine, with blood.

"Is that your answer to life?"She asked tiredly, wearily; Lloyd knew that voice: she was afraid. It was the voice she had used with Da-Kratos every time they had seen him after he'd betrayed them at the Tower. So, she did not believe that he had not attacked Palmacosta either. It hurt.

It hurt with everyone, but this was worse for some reason. She was his teacher; she was supposed to have faith in him even when he was pathetically stupid, or when he screwed up. Now, when she was… more… she lost all faith at just a rumor.

Why did this hurt so much more that Colette's wide, horrified eyes, or Zelos' blunt defiance? Genis' mortification and Sheena's questioning stare could not hurt him like this. Presea's blank confusion or Regal's disapproving sighs would never even compete with this.

Not even Ratatosk/Emil's sword could stab him through the heart like Raine could with just a word and a look.

No, the mild, calculating, unsure look that Lloyd was being X-rayed with could wither him in seconds.

"Would you believe I'm here stalking Dad-Kratos with Yuan and being chased by the Ghost of Forcystus?"

"…"

They stared at each other for a very long moment before Raine looked away; although Raine was the one with her back to the wall and Lloyd the one holding her there, it felt as though they had changed places completely; her stare pinned him and he wanted to walk away with his tale between his legs like Noishe.

Finally, Raine spoke: "No Lloyd," she said gravely, "I'm afraid that that answer just isn't going to cut it."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**BROKE THE WRITER'S BLOCK!!!!!**

**Sorry, have had writer's block for the last, like, seven chapters, that last part is the only thing that I feel remotely proud of.**

**Well, yeah…**

**R&R**

**~Yours in total bliss~**

**~Yoshi**


	31. In Which They Wander The Ranch

**~It's raining, it's pouring! The old man is snoring…~**

**Yoshi's happy, it's rained all day and I got to sit back in the car while we drove to Wisconsin. They've got a Japanese boy, Masayuki, staying with them, so life's gotten really interesting.**

**Um… More of the "haunted" Ranch, Kratos/Yuan, Raine/Lloyd interaction and Emil and Marta just soaking everything in. POV switching every-so-often, etc, etc.**

**Disclaimer: ***_**Sigh**_*** is it really necessary that I reiterate the fact that I **_**don't freaking own**_** Tales of Symphonia or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.**

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When Kratos, Marta, Emil, and Tenebrae had found the emergency power-generator that Yuan had designed into later models of the Desian Ranches, Kratos had decided to try turning it on, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that much of the Ranch was still in working condition. For all the hatred that people felt for the Ranch, very few people had been willing to come close enough to it to take any of the spoils that could still be scavenged from the ruins. The destruction of the facilities had been left to nature; the monsters that had found refuge in the steel-incased walls, the plants that had been beaten back for seven centuries had taken revenge.

So, thanks to the lights, the search for Paul had been made marginally easier.

Now, with Yuan having joined the search party and (sort of) believing Kratos to be Kratos, the Seraph was actually quite happy with how this little rescue-mission was going. They wandered down the broken halls and Yuan filled Kratos in on their strange, coincidental, meeting. Apparently, or so a slightly red Yuan was saying, he and Lloyd had been searching for any left-over exspheres that had been over-looked in their first scour of the Ranch.

Kratos, who had known Yuan for longer than the world had been split, could easily detect the false note in his friend's voice, however, he decided not to call the angel on it. Emil and Marta spent the majority of the time watching each other when they thought the other was not looking and blushing whenever their gazes met. It was sickly sweet and Kratos was reminded of Yuan and Martel when they had been teenagers.

"M-Mister Yuan, sir, how do you know Lloyd?" Marta blushed at being the first of the two to speak to the blue-haired angel.

"Humph, he's my… we worked together during the World Regeneration-" Kratos snorted. "-alright, _part_ of the time, and he… visits me at times."

"So, you are still running the Renegades?"

"No, I'm in contact with most of them, however, I've shut down the bases and most have started families from what I have been told."

"What are the Renegades, Yuan?" Tenebrae ghosted behind them, eyeing the blue-haired Seraph intently.

"Tenebrae… it has been a long time."

"Yes, once Lord Ratatosk has awoken, he will have a lot to say to you."

Yuan paled at the thought and cleared his throat; "The Renegades are an organization that opposed the Desians and brought information back and forth between Tethe'alla and Sylvarant. I was their leader."

"Wow…" Emil and Marta's eyes went wide.

"It sounds like it was established long before you could have been born, from whom did you iterate it?" Tenebrae was as spiteful as ever.

Yuan favored the Centurion with a "Kratos death-glare". "No, I began the organization when I was… younger."

"So, how old _are_ you?" asked Marta, "You said that you'd lived in Asgard since before its name changed, but the name changed before the World split. How does that work?"

Yuan muttered something unkind about children and their memories and glanced uneasily at Kratos. "I… have nearly reached the thousand years that makes a half-elves' lifespan. In a word, I am old."

"But, I thought…" trailed Marta.

"Do not question your elders," chided Kratos, "it is impolite."

"Sorry…" Marta's head hung and she had the decency to blush.

"…" Yuan shrugged wordlessly.

………………

"Lloyd, why do you keep insisting upon this ridiculous story? I understand if you don't want to tell me the truth, however, do not continue to take me for a fool," Raine snapped at the cringing Eternal Swordsman.

"But Ra- Professor… Raine, I'm not making it up! Oh, screw it!" Lloyd growled the last part, switching his gaze to the metal and wires that made the floor and glaring. "Please, just… don't ask for a reason if you're not even gunna believe me."

"Lloyd, if you are just going to disappear and worry me to death, at least use good grammar."

Lloyd smacked his hand to his face, the sound of skin-on-skin echoed down the empty halls of the Human Ranch.

"Fine, whatever, look, I have to find Yuan before he's attacked by that ghost. Be careful, I don't want to have to come running and save you too. Oh, and Kratos, Marta, and Rat…-_Emil_ are all here too, I think they're supposed to be helping you."

Lloyd turned on his heel and began to storm away, trying to avoid thinking about the hurt that had flashed through Raine's eyes. Why did he have to be so softhearted…?

"Lloyd, wait, wouldn't it be foolish to not take advantage of this? Strength in numbers, remember?"

"Do you want to come with me?" He made it sound like no big deal, but, in reality, his heart leapt.

"I believe it would be in both our best interests."

"I am searching for Paul, you remember Paul of course. It seems he was following in your footsteps again and was guarding the "Haunted Ranch"."

Lloyd grunted in response, not wanting to look at her.

"I only just returned to Iselia, actually, Genis and I have been searching all over the world for you, where in the world have you been?"

"Around, I haven't really been staying in one place for more than a few days."

"I talked to the people of Iselia; apparently around hasn't been at home. I also spoke to Colette, she's worried about you."

"Sorry."

_Don't look, don't look, don't look._

Suddenly she sighed and Lloyd reflexively looked at her: a mistake. She had stopped and when he turned she was already a few feet behind, thanks Lloyd's longer strides. Her head was down, messy silver hair covered her penetrating, blue eyes and Lloyd felt a spike of longing to tell her everything. Ratatosk, Kratos, Yuan, Yggdrasill, the Centurions, and the Vanguard… everything wanted to slip out of his mouth…

But he could not let it.

He would put everything, including her, in jeopardy. He had plans; plans that could not be compromised. Ugh, he sounded like Mithos or something… Even if everything he was doing was for the best, it did not make it any easier.

"Professor, I really am sorry, but, if you…-"

"No, Lloyd, I'm just trying to remember when you started sounding so much like your father."

Lloyd blinked, not having realized that his behavior had changed all that much.

"Uh… what?"

A bitter chuckle from the half-elven woman made Lloyd blink in further confusion.

"That's more like it."

Lloyd blushed at his stupidity.

"H-hey, that's not fair! So I'm not a total idiot; that does not mean I'm acting like Dad!"

Raine chuckled again, this time less coldly, and met Lloyd's eyes. It felt like she was trying to pry all of his secrets out with just that look. It was… one of the reasons he liked her so much. During his school days, Lloyd had learned a very healthy respect for that look. It often meant that he was about to get hit for not doing his homework… again.

During the journey, it had meant that she knew what he was thinking… a scary thought as Lloyd's mind had always worked in abstract ways.

………………

"So, you're looking for this Paul kid? Where have I heard that name before…?" Yuan muttered the last part to himself; however, Kratos heard and looked questioningly at his old friend.

"Yeah, apparently he was going to patrol the Haunted Ranch." Marta filled the half-elf in on their mission.

"You've been talking to Lloyd, right?" asked Emil after a moment, "Paul is supposed to be Lloyd's "apprentice" maybe that's where you've heard of him."

"Hmm… ah, that'd be Lilia's Paul."

"How do you know-?"

"Long story. All that you would have to take away from it would be that your son can be too kind at times."

………………

"Lloyd, I heard about Lilia."

Lloyd blushed; his proposal had been made while Raine was taking Genis, and helping him get settled in, in Sybak. The half-elf was studying at the Elemental Research Academy Headquarters on the campus. Raine and Genis had been gone nearly a month when word of Paul and Lilia's misfortune had reached the Eternal Swordsman's ears.

"So have a lot of people."

"Why did you do it?"

"If you've heard the story, you must have heard my side of the story."

"I want to hear it from you."

..................

The elevators that riddled the guts of the Human Ranch were in working order thanks to the power having been turned on. They were, however, a "royal pain in the ass" as Yuan put it. Kratos had to wonder, as Yuan had created the plans and overseen the creation of the structure, what his purpose for all of the pointlessly advanced technology in the Ranch was.

He voiced his question softly in the other man's ear when he thought the Centurion of Darkness was well distracted by Emil and Marta: "Yuan, what in Origin's name possessed you to complicate this so much?"

"I built them when I was beginning the Renegades; I was just trying to complicate things a much a possible for the Desians." Kratos could not tell if Yuan was feeling smug… or annoyed with his brilliant plan.

Kratos face-palmed at his friend's logic; he had certainly succeeded in over-complicating the processes.

…..

"W-wha? What are we going to now?!" wailed Marta as she surveyed the sea of oily and poisoned water that blocked their path.

Yuan swore softly, "I knew that something was leaking."

"…" Kratos very nearly caught himself from snapping at Yuan, hadn't he even had the foresight to install a drain switch? "Shouldn't… shouldn't there be some sort of emergency draining switch for this sort of emergency?"

"I don't know!" grumbled Emil, "Was there one when you were here last time Kratos?"

"We were hardly faced with a flood."

"That was the Remote Island Human Ranch," hissed Yuan bitterly.

Kratos glanced at his friend and felt a flash of remembrance; had Lloyd not once mentioned that when they had infiltrated Rodyle's Ranch that Botta the Renegade had drowned there? He supposed that the Renegade would have been at least on speaking terms with Yuan, the loss, he supposed, would have been painful for his friend.

"I believe," said Yuan, "there would be a switch… over there!" He gestured to a small platform at practically the same level as the softly pulsing water. Small waves would break on it every few seconds or so; sending slimy polluted water washing over the platform. There was barely enough room to stand, let alone navigate. A thin latter made of some sort of metallic substance swayed dangerously, half rusted away from the wall.

"Dammit," said Kratos looking at the hazard, "Yuan, what were you… How are we going to get over there? The water would make anyone sick if they tried to swim through it. There's no way that I could fit down there!"

"Don't look at me," snapped the blue-haired Seraph. "I have several things against water."

"I'll go." Emil looked shocked at his own bravery.

Kratos and Yuan both looked at the Knight of Ratatosk disbelievingly.

"Oh, Emil you're so brave!" Marta clapped her hands and cheered the boy-Knight on.

"Are you sure?" asked Yuan skeptically, "It shall be dangerous."

"W-well, neither of you guys can do it, and I don't want Marta or the monsters to get hurt, so I have to go."

"Emil, perhaps we should think this through before you go and get yourself hurt…" Tenebrae butted in.

"No. I'm going to do this." Ratatosk's determination flashed red through Emil's eyes; there truly was not stopping him now.

……………….

After Lloyd finished his story, Raine was really laughing; it was a comfort to Lloyd to hear her ringing laugh. It cut through the eeriness of the Ranch and washed all of Lloyd's fears of ghosts far from his mind.

"Only you, Lloyd, would be able to get one of your biggest fans that way!"

"I didn't mean to!" cried Lloyd in mock-insult. "It just sort of happened!"

In all honesty, he had only told her the story in hopes that Raine would forget the real reason she was interrogating him and he could slip away without Palmacosta being mentioned again. He still did not have the answers he wanted to figure out that conun-drum, if that was the word…

"Everyone had stories when I went back; I guess I shouldn't have let you talk me out of meeting you in Iselia after I dropped of Genis."

"What? I wanted to see how he was fitting in before I let him hang out with all those nerds!"

Lloyd and Raine were joking as if they had never been apart. Bantering and keeping each other from paying attention to the circumstances around them. The corridors were getting smaller and more difficult to navigate and Lloyd was getting nervous.

"How far do you think Paul could have gone?" Lloyd asked his old teacher.

"Who knows, apparently he's gotten quite good with his swords, and it'd be more difficult to turn back than to go forward, we'll have to find him eventually." Raine sobered up as she answered his question, the safety of her students overcoming her amusement at Lloyd.

"Yeah, you're right… whoa!"

The small passageway opened up onto a huge glass dome. The slopping ceiling, walls, and even floor were made of a darkly tinted glass; dark quartz if Lloyd was right.

"_Fantastic!_" trilled Raine, "These must be the internal controls!" Her eyes lit up in the old Rune-Mode fashion and Lloyd sweat-dropped as he watched the usually composed woman begin to frolic around staring in fascination at the magi-technology that riddled the room. Blinking lights winked at them from several different computers and cameras.

Lloyd allowed Raine time to full soak up her technology while he wander the room, examining their location. He glanced down and got a shock; Kratos, Yuan, Marta, and Tenebrae watching Ratatosk/Emil carefully balance his way over the, apparently, slippery platform to drain the water from another large area of the room below him.

Lloyd swore softly under his breath; so Yuan had been found-out. That would mean, Lloyd assumed, that Emil knew that he was somewhere in the building too. The Spirit was after Lloyd's head on a platter because he believed that Lloyd had killed his mother in Palmacosta. How that worked was beyond Lloyd, but he knew it meant one thing: He had to get out of there before he was found and had to fight Ratatosk again.

……………….

Kratos watched nervously as the young Knight navigated his way down the swaying latter toward the tedious platform. Four thousand years of experience allowed him to keep his bubbling nerves quiet as the boy, for, despite the reality of Emil's circumstances, that was what Kratos thought of him as, nearly slipped and plummeted into the water.

Marta, however, had no such practice nor patience and she gasped every time Emil's grip was not ideal or his foot slipped or he swayed dangerously on the latter; which was often. Yuan, far on the other side of the spectrum from his companions, seemed impatient with Emil; for some reason thinking he was holding them up.

The blue-haired Seraph shifted his weight between his legs, arms crossed, fingers drumming a tattoo against his arm. He rolled his eyes and tiredly blew at the bit of hair that always hung in his eyes.

And then, Emil slipped.

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**Oh… I probably shouldn't have stopped there… oops!**

**Alright, I'm gonna try to finish up Forcy's Ranch in the next chapter or two, and then we'll move on with the plot. I think I enjoyed playing with everyone's heads during these bits.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	32. In Which They Save Paul

**Chapter 32… I lost the game.**

**Chaos, regrouping, and somebody finally getting around to saving poor, forgotten Paul. A long-ish update, I rather proud of how it turned out, a healthy amount of description and Yuan and Lloyd go running with their provable tails between their legs. Character insights and a few round-a-bout explanations. Those Aurion boys know how to avoid the question. Oh, and someone finally remembered why the hell they decided to come to the Ranch in the first place. **

**Disclaimer: Should I actually come into possession of TOS or DotNW I can assure you that a new version of the sequel, with my careful editing, would be out in a matter of weeks. One that does justice to the original. Until that time, however, you can rest assured that I do not own Tales of Symphonia.**

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Marta cried out in horror, Kratos, though his face was impassibly blank, twitched horribly, and even Yuan looked almost concerned as Emil tumbled toward the churning oily water. They young Knight had been stepping off the metal latter and carefully putting his feet onto the platform where the button to drain the room was located, when his foot had slipped and he began his plummet.

Emil's eyes were wide and shocked; he was still unsure of what had happened. His indigo scarf and the loose parts of his top, as well as his hair, all flew back as his body shot back. His feet were off the ground and they flailed awkwardly in the air, trying to find nonexistent foothold. A soft squeak of surprise developed into a cry of horror as his mind caught up to his body.

The water seemed to rise toward him; arms wide open to except the Knight into their shadowy depths. The surface sparkled with the multiple shades created by oil residue, and a hundred other chemicals that would cause pain, or even death, upon consumption or contact. Emil might never recover.

Suddenly the sound of wildly fluttering wings from behind Kratos caused Marta to jump, and Valkie, Emil's "pet" harpy was sailing toward the blond boy; her sharp, gripping talons grasping at the boy's bare shoulders. Kratos' sharp eyes saw her talons cut into Emil's skin and draw dark blood, but she shoved him into and upright possession and Emil quickly caught his balance.

He looked mildly shocked to still be alive, however, he turned to give his friends, still standing where they had been when the whole ordeal had begun, a tentative smile and then turned to thank Valkie. The conversation was quick and one-sided for the majority of the party; however, Kratos got the essentials of it. Valkie seemed to be chewing the Knight out for his carelessness. Kratos could not blame her; he wanted to do much the same. Somewhere in the back of his head he remembered a time when Lloyd had done something much the same.

They had been at the Seal of Water searching for the Spiritua statue to give to Koton in order to see the Book of Spiritua. Somehow the idiot Priests had dropped the damn thing into the geyser and Lloyd had been the one to go down and retrieve the thing.

He had nearly fallen into the boiling water several times before obtaining the statue, and that was just getting to it.

Of course, the entire ordeal had happened in a matter of seconds, but Kratos still had to force his heart to return to normal.

………………

Lloyd sighed in relief as Emil was saved by Valkie. He almost laughed aloud as he watched the harpy scold the boy through the soundproofed glass of the main control room. If they had lost Emil, they would have lost Ratatosk. What had Yuan been thinking allowing the child to go alone to what could almost be assuredly his death?

Sometimes Lloyd figured he would never understand the elder half-elf.

Speaking of which, Lloyd felt the same spike of panic as he watched Yuan interact with his father and the two children. Some sixth sense told Lloyd that now everyone in the Ranch was aware of his presence; if Emil were to see him, the young Ratatosk reincarnate would most likely try to kill him in vengeance of the parents that he had never actually met, from what Lloyd knew at least.

Raine was still running her hands, and cheeks, over the magi-technology in the room and was blissfully unaware of the turmoil that was happening below and in Lloyd's head. Although he did not want to leave the Professor to wander alone through a possibly haunted Ranch, he had his own ends and responsibilities to see too.

Unfortunately, the top of his priorities at the moment was getting his uncle away from Ratatosk and his posse. It was a shame; really, Lloyd had been hoping that he might have a moment to speak to his father alone. However, that did not seem to be a possibility.

"Um… Professor?" Lloyd used her "teacher" title, which, though given affectionately, was still less personal than she normally requested from him. He turned to look at the Ruin-Mode-ing teacher whose attention was slowly diverted from a large computer to her old pupil. "Look, I'm sorry, but I sorta' have to go. I don't know what you're gonna' do, but I'd better skedaddle. See ya 'round, mmkay?"

Lloyd would have grimaced at some of the childish language he was using but for the fact that he had purposely pulled out the most innocent of his vocabulary; he did not, after all, want to leave her believing him to be going off and murdering people or something…

"You're leaving?" The silver-haired woman blinked at her student in mild surprise. "I thought you were going to help me find Paul."

"Well, yeah, but somethin' came up, and besides, it looks like you'll have a lot of help once you meet up with them." Lloyd nodded down to where Marta was hugging Emil tightly back on solid ground. Tenebrae, Kratos, and Yuan were watching, evident relief was present on the Centurion's face; even Kratos seemed to have relaxed for a moment. Yuan looked his usual cool self; uncaring despite the situation.

"Hmm? Oh, what's Yuan doing here?" Raine looked surprised to see the ex-Renegade there despite Lloyd's telling her what he had been doing there in the first place. "And who are the other's with him? I remember seeing them in the forest. They were coming into town from the direction of your father's."

Lloyd had not known that Raine had encountered his father and the others, after they had left Dirk's he and Yuan had rushed to Iselia to wait for them. The forest, though full of good hiding places, was open this time of the year and full of monsters during the day; too dangerous to wander when you were focused on not being heard by one party.

"Well, the girl's Marta, the boy's Emil,"-no need to tell her of Ratatosk-"and the man's Kratos."

"…Emil, Marta, and Kratos… yes I heard of those names from Colette. Apparently they met and saved Asgard, or so she claims."

"Well, whatever you say. Anyway, I really do have to go, so I'll see you later. Oh, and a suggestion, don't mention that we hung out, Emil doesn't like me and if you want to keep yourself neutral, mentioning me won't help." Lloyd grinned slightly impishly, something he had learned from Zelos, and disappeared out a door opposite from the one they had entered though. There being two other doors besides the one's used, Raine had no excuse to follow, or so Lloyd hoped.

This was not, however, the biggest problem that Lloyd could think of at the moment though; he was rather more concerned with whether she would hate him forever.

………………

A lot had been running through Emil's head since he had entered the Human Ranch. For one, what the hell what this Yuan guy's problem? After the… thing in Asgard, he had though that would be the end of that issue. Not so much, apparently. Second; Lloyd was here? And Yuan and Lloyd were in on something, _together?_ Somehow, it did not surprise him that two of the most malicious people, excluding the Vanguard, which Emil had never met, were working together to bring his goals down. From the inside if he could read Yuan.

The half-elf had not even batted an eyelash when Emil had nearly drowned… sort of. Seriously, how the hell did someone like Kratos end up with a friend like that?

He could tell that Marta was thinking something on similar lines, and the fact that Tenebrae was not floating around talking to them showed that he was in the same boat. Kratos seemed at ease with the blue-haired man, which surprised Emil as the last time they had met, Yuan had claimed that the two of them had never met.

Emil turned and caught Marta's eye; the girl was rubbing Ratatosk's core that was hidden under her bangs as she watched Yuan and Kratos interact. A hint of a blush came to her cheeks, but other than that she seemed perfectly aware of what Emil wanted: to talk.

"What do you think's up with this guy?" Marta whispered when she thought neither man could hear her.

"I don't know, ya' think he's trying to kill us?"

"Somehow, I don't doubt it."

Emil almost paled, but tried to look tough for Marta; it must have worked because the sparkle in her eyes seemed to brighten. "Do you think Kratos is working with him?"

From in front of them Yuan let out a badly disguised snort which he barely managed to turn into a cough. Emil stiffened and Marta caught his eye, nervously this time; how had he heard them? A moment ago he and Kratos had been talking.

"I don't think he and Kratos are working together, but I don't wonder if he's with the Vanguard," Emil said at barely a whisper a few minutes later, when he was sure that Kratos and Yuan were deep in their own whispered conversation.

"I don't know…" Marta hedged, "I've been chased by the Vanguard for awhile now, but I've never seen him before…"

"So maybe he's new!" hissed Emil back.

"But wouldn't he be trying to kill _me?"_ said Marta logically.

"What are we whispering about?" Marta and Emil both jumped a foot in the air when Tenebrae ghosted up behind them, whispering in their ears.

"Shhhh!" hissed Marta, " Martel, Tenebrae, shut up!"

Kratos and Yuan's conversation had ceased at Marta's utterance of "Martel". The black and white-clad mercenary turned and, though he was obviously trying to hide it, glared. Yuan, on the other hand, had clenched his hands into fists and was carefully staring forward. Though neither teen could see his face, they had a feeling that he was glaring as well.

..................

"_Martel"_. The girl's utterance still echoed around Yuan's head as he determinedly stalked forward. Once, thousands of years ago, Yuan would have been shocked that his beloved's name could have been _used in vain_, but now it just angered him. Mithos had let things get too far out of hand when he had started this religion. Now, had he still been alive, he would have seen everything that he had strived for falling down around his pointed ears.

Yuan knew that it was pointless and childish to blame the girl for what she had been taught, what her people had been taught for four thousand years, but sometimes he could not help the red-hot anger that rose in his chest.

He felt Kratos' eyes on him and inclined his head ever so slightly to acknowledge his old friend.

Kratos seemed to take this as an invitation to speak; "Yuan… killing her would not help."

"Hypocrite."

"True, however, I find that sometimes murder in necessary."

The way that Kratos spoke of death, so simply, like speaking of the weather, showed why he had been know as the Angel of Death, _Cru de Ohra _as he had been dubbed in angelic.

Yuan snorted at his friend's cool statement, and turned to examine the room. It was different, being in the structure instead of just looking at plans. The high steel-sheathed walls and hundreds of seemingly weightless elevators. Elevators that lead into the bowls of the death-trap that was a Human Ranch.

"Kratos, can we talk to you?" Marta's soft voice called from behind. As the other Seraph hung back to talk to the children, Yuan felt a jolt and then a soft, numbing feeling that signified pain. He turned and, seeing nothing, glanced down and instantly saw what had caused his discomfort; a small bit of broken metal. There was a piece of paper stuck through it.

A note.

Glancing around, Yuan saw that Kratos was deep into a hissed argument with Emil and had not noticed that anything had happened. Marta and Tenebrae were both singularly focused on the argument as well. No one had seen anything.

Yuan looked up and searched the higher passages and caught a glimpse of red disappearing around a corner to his left. Lloyd.

Making up his mind in a split-second, Yuan stooped down and scooped up the paper, sliding it from its hiding spot in the metal and continued walking as though nothing had happened.

Subtly, Yuan opened the paper and found a scribbled note in a familiar scrawl.

_Dear Yuan,_ it read,

_Sorry I ran off. Raine's here, so I was with her. Saw you. Get out of there, meet you at entrance._

_Lloyd_

_P.S._

_Watch out for ghosts._

Yuan read the note through twice before sighing. So, Raine Sage was here. How much worse could things get? He understood that Lloyd held the half-elf in high regard, but she was nosy. The last thing they needed was a nosy woman digging her way into things.

Abruptly, Yuan decided to take his godson's advice. "I have to go," he said bluntly.

"What?" Kratos' head snapped up and he fixed his friend with a cold, inquiring stare.

"I. Have. To. Go," Yuan snapped. "Something's come up and I need to look into it. Keep yourself alive, Aurion. I don't want to have to save your ass again."

And as suddenly as he had come, Yuan was gone.

..................

Everything seemed to be happening around Kratos and he could do nothing to stop the flow of activity. One moment Yuan was there, the next he was gone. Emil and Marta, with the encouragement of Tenebrae, seemed to be plotting rebellion behind his back. Lloyd was lost somewhere in this Martel forsaken Ranch, and Kratos was nearly pulling his hair out simply trying to keep everyone alive. He could not remember feeling this stretched since the Kharlan War, having to keep three half-elves, and whoever else was traveling with them at the time, had certainly kept the ex-noble busy.

They were riding over on the, or so Kratos hoped, last elevator in silence when Emil spoke and asked the question that Kratos had been hoping he would have to answer.

"What the hell's up with that Yuan guy?" he asked, not even trying to disguise the scorn in his voice. "I thought it was just the fact that he was drunk that made him so weird, but he was perfectly sober and a total freak."

He left the back of his question open to be answered and Kratos almost out-right sighed, however, he managed to keep his mouth shut.

"How did you guys meet?" asked Marta after a moment, when it seemed as though Kratos was either too lost in his thoughts to answer, or he was simply unwilling to do so.

They had stepped off the elevator and had reached the door before Kratos said anything; "Yuan and I have been friends since we were both very young-"

"But Yuan said that he was almost a thousand years old, and you said you were old a few hundred years old…" Marta corrected; eyes wide at finding a hole in her friend's story.

"Some secrets are better off remaining so." It was not an insult of their intelligence; he was not even reprimanding them for being nosy; he said it in a tired way, as though he was simply resigned to keeping some things from the world. "As I said, Yuan and I have been friends since we were both children. As the years passed, we chose different paths. Paths that, at times, put us on opposing sides, however, it is difficult to, for the sake of any goal, to put aside so many years of close friendship.

"We have both held each other at sword point, yet, somehow, we can still speak to few others so freely. Despite his, as you put it, "freakiness", Yuan is, and will always remain, a close confident. We have too much in common, too many things that we have experienced together to betray confidence now."

Kratos said this with an air of revealing everything and nothing. His words and, at times, tone seemed so open, like he was truly expressing himself for the first time, however, what he said remained reiterated points. Things said in an artfully _different_ was so as to trick the listener into believing they were being told a new story.

This was what Marta and Emil believed; what they willed themselves to hear, and so they believed in their friend. But what they did not realize, what they did not want to realize, was that Kratos had completely avoided answering the question.

……………….

The room where the small green-haired Paul crouched, crying, was covered in plant life. Green moss-like stuffs cushioned the metal floor. A huge tree-like growth swayed slightly off-center on the main computer platform. From the times when Kratos had come to the Iselia Ranch in the past, he recalled that this had been Lord Forcystus' privet control room. Paul had made it a very long way into the Ranch before finally collapsing, admitting defeat and waiting to be found.

Paul's face was buried in his arms and soft sobs and sniffles could be heard even from across the room. He looked up upon hearing their approach; his already huge moss-green eyes were wide and red from crying and a bit of snot dripped down his upper lip. He brightened somewhat until it seemed he recalled their first, and only, conversation. The conversation where Emil had acted so scornfully about Paul's "apprenticeship" to Lloyd.

"Paul, we've come to save you!" said Marta brightly, and she took off sprinting across the room to scoop the child up in her arms.

Kratos, who had reached out to stop to sprinting girl, missed Emil's sudden hiss and turned only to see the blond Knight being pulled by his ankle toward the large tree-like thing by a vine. However, the thing was no longer simply a "growth" but something with wickedly intelligent eyes and a wide, gaping mouth filled with jagged, very un-plant-like teeth.

Emil let out a high-pitched cry and tried to run as a larger vine curled around his midriff and he was pulled into the air. His sword, still sheathed was unreachable thanks to the vine and Emil was completely helpless.

Kratos spotted another vine sneaking toward Marta and he was across the room in a matter of long strides, slicing the greenery away from the girl and small child she was holding. Both cried out and Kratos was forced to stoop and dodge an army of vine-y extensions. He backed Marta, Paul still in her hands, into a corner, his back to them, so that he could more easily protect them from the creature.

After a few moments, the vines had all retreated from Kratos' slicing, steel "weed whacker" and Emil, who seemed to be forgotten by the monster for the moment, called out "There's a saying that's something like this… 'you can't… um…"

"You can't see the forest for the trees."

"Y-yeah, maybe that's what this is… hey, wait!"

Professor Raine Sage stood dramatically framed in the doorway looking her usual violent self. Her staff was raised high in preparation of a spell; Kratos could feel the light mana gravitating toward the half-elven woman. A few moments later she cried "Photon!" and a swirl of white-hot mana shot up the vine that held Emil. The burned creature dropped the Knight with a furious, pained cry.

"Cover me!" she shouted at Emil, "You two," she gestured at Kratos and Emil, "take the front lines. Girl, protect Paul. I'll heal!"

And the battle commenced.

Nero, Eon, and Lithos all fell back to help protect Marta while Sophie and Valkie sent spell after spell at the tree monster. Isho floated to the frontlines and hacked at the on-coming vines that tried to slip behind Emil and Kratos. Soft, cool fingers of mana that brushed gently against their skin healed all the small injuries that Kratos or Emil obtained.

Kratos hacked and sliced at the armies of vines that snaked forward and lashed out at them. Raine cast massive light spells from behind that knocked out more than either Knight could at once with swords. After a few moments of dodging, Kratos saw an opening and lunged for it, slamming his sword deep into the center of the tree.

The "tree" screamed and seemed to wilt around the hilt of Kratos' sword, still buried in the monster. It roared and withered and shook at Kratos' sword all of the vines returned to their master to scratch at the sword, trying to drag it out.

Seconds later the struggle had depleted to almost nothing and sap had begun to leak from the wound. There was a soft glow and Kratos leapt back to avoid being engulfed in the spell. His sword was not so lucky; still embedded in the creature, it was melted from the hilt up. All that was left was the handle.

Raine smirked as her Photon finished off the growling beast. She had hardly savored her win when she turned to Paul. The boy leapt from Marta's arms and ran over to his teacher, looked excited.

"Professor Sage!" he cried.

"Hello Paul." She looked dangerous, Paul paled.

"Paul," she spoke with the voice that had caused Lloyd, Genis, and even the Chosen of Tethe'alla himself nightmares for much of their lives.

It even caused Kratos a bout of impending doom.

Raine Sage had a reputation for having one of the most terrifyingly painful punishments in either world. Sometimes Kratos believed that the only sadistic mind that could beat her was that of Mithos.

"Paul, what are you doing here? Did you not hear my explicit directions _not_ to come to the Human Ranch?"

"B-but," the child was more afraid of what his teacher was going to do to him that what could have happened to him in the Ranch. "I-I was just patrolling the Ranch while Lloyd is gone!"

"Isn't that a job for the city watch?" growled Raine.

"Y-yeah, well, they've… um…" Paul seemed to lose the point he was trying to make in the teacher's icy blue eyes. Kratos recalled from many long talks with Lloyd what happened after this; Raine would…

SMACK! Professor Sage's hand met Paul posterior and there was a cry of "I'm sorry!" before it happened again.

Raine's corporal punishments, though often a little unheard of, were affective, Kratos had to admit.

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**Sorry about the sorta' crappy fight seen, that really wasn't the point of the chapter though. Anyway, hope the character insight brought a bit of light to what was supposed to be going on. A few new relations created.**

**See you next week.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	33. In Which Kratos has a Heart Attack

**Oh, this should be good; Kratos is gonna' have a heart attack when he finds out what his son's been up to lately… *Clears throat* Anyway, lots of stories and explanations, and Raine starts to get some strange ideas about what exactly is going on here. Lloyd and Yuan won't be seen again for a while; sorry. Bits and pieces of character bonding and whatnot. **

**Disclaimer: Yup, still don't own it…**

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The Iselia schoolhouse was one of the larger buildings in the Village. It consisted of a small outer hallway, filled with things for the children to play with during their lunch break and extra papers, pencils, art supplies, and textbooks. A wood-framed door led into the classroom; it was a good-sized room filled with individual desks and chairs, all large enough for full-sized adults to sit in. It was an almost humorous to think of a small child trying to sit up to them. A blackboard and podium stood in the far front of the room and little windows looked out at town. There were bookshelves lining the walls and in the back were a pair of familiar buckets full of water.

The side wall, that held the door, was covered in pictures displaying colorful drawings.

Kratos, Marta, Emil, Tenebrae, and the monsters had come to the school while Professor Sage had taken Paul home to Lilia, for the teacher had wanted to talk to them. Kratos wondered if she knew what was going on or if she, like Colette, would not recognize him. Although Kratos had never been fond of the woman, he had to admit, for someone growing up under her circumstances, she was very intelligent. Sometimes too intelligent for her own good.

"So, do you think Professor Sage is Lloyd's old teacher?" asked Emil, "Kratos, is she?"

"Indeed." Kratos was doing a good job of keeping himself neutral today, between returning to one of the old Ranches, meeting Yuan, being told that his son was lost somewhere inside, Emil almost falling to his death, and having met up with Raine Sage, Kratos had had a lot of practice with his nerves today. "Ms. Sage is the Teacher in question."

"That murderer's teacher!" growled Emil.

"Emil… don't be so hasty," Tenebrae's retort did not seem to comfort Emil at all, on the contrary, it seemed to anger him more.

"Emil, please," Marta pleaded with the Knight, "Raine didn't seem so bad, maybe she'll help us find Lloyd."

"It is odd that Yuan seemed to think that Lloyd was in the Ranch with us. I wonder why he was there. After all, it would be common sense for one to wish to stay away from the person trying to kill him or her," Tenebrae stated mildly.

Kratos recalled with a jolt that only he, Sophie, and Nero knew that Lloyd knew that Kratos was his father and that Lloyd had been turned into a Chimera and made a pact with Kratos. He had traveled with the group for some time and if he had, in fact, wanted to steal any of their cores or wanted to hurt any of them he would have been perfectly capable of doing so. He had not, so Lloyd was quite obviously not going to attempt to harm any of them.

"Oh, wow, look at these!" Marta who was staring at all of the pictures jolted Kratos out of his recollection. "They're all of Lloyd!"

"Hmm? Oh humans never cease to amaze me, let's have a look at these." Tenebrae sat back to examine the wall.

"I never would have pegged you as an art buff, Tenebrae," Marta giggled.

"How rude." The Centurion turned away from the girl, back to the wall of pictures.

There must have been dozens of pictures of his son, Kratos examined them, some were not just of Lloyd, but Colette, Genis, many of the others in the group as well, even, Kratos saw to his shock, one of himself. There were pictures of Lloyd's face, Lloyd with his swords, Lloyd killing Desians, Lloyd riding Noishe. The children of Iselia were obviously some of the biggest believers in Lloyd's innocence.

"This one seems to have been drawn by Paul, the boy you saved." Tenebrae pointed out one that was of Lloyd covered in what Kratos had first assumed to be blood; he now saw that it was actually… tomatoes.

"_I love Lloyd."_ The scribbled writing on the bottom said.

"I love Lloyd," Marta read, she seemed to be taking it better than Emil.

"…How come everyone-?" He began; pure fury in his tone.

"Someone's coming," hissed Tenebrae, and he ghosted from existence, taking the monsters with him.

Kratos, Emil, and Marta all turned to the door where the familiar orange coat of Raine Sage appeared.

"Sorry that took so long. Oh, I see you've been looking at the drawings." She moved behind them to get a better look, staring up at them.

"It… looks like this one was drawn by Paul. He sure is a big fan of Lloyd's…" Marta said softly.

"He had every reason to be from what I've heard."

Marta, Kratos, and Emil all looked at Raine with questioning eyes. She had spoken as though there was some brilliant inside joke about the story.

"Paul's father died when the Desians from the nearby Human Ranch attacked the village because Lloyd and my brother snuck into the Ranch and tried to save a friend."

"You see?" exploded Emil, "Lloyd is nothing but a worthless murderer!"

"When Lloyd returned from the Journey, he was horrified." Raine continued as though Emil had not interrupted her. "He went and visited Paul and Lilia every day. Even when Lilia told him not to come back; he persisted."

Raine's face took on a strange half-pained, half-amused look as she carried on her story.

"And then, out of the Blue, Lloyd proposed to Lilia."

"_WHAT?!"_ Kratos roared into the silence that followed Raine's alien statement. _"Lloyd did what?"_

Raine chuckled into the face of death that was Kratos. His eyes were wild with fury at the idea of his son not only _proposing,_ but also proposing to a _married woman._ Something in Raine's eyes told Kratos that all had hardly gone according to plan. However, Kratos had to sit before he could continue to listen for fear of collapsing. His heart was beating violently inside his chest.

Raine, though amused, was able to keep a clear head, and was hardly ignorant that he, a total stranger in her eyes, had highly over-reacted to the simple statement. As a bystander, Kratos technically should have been overjoyed at the idea of their "hero" becoming happily married. On the contrary, he had made a fool of himself.

There was no way that Raine Sage had missed that.

"That," said Raine, obviously trying to keep herself from demanding answers from him, "is precisely how Lilia reacted. She was so shocked and angry that she picked up a tomato and threw it straight at Lloyd. Lloyd reacted by batting the projectile away and it hit Lilia in the face. Before they knew it, tomatoes were flying everywhere and Paul and Lilia were smiling for the first time in months. Lloyd-."

"_Enough!" _shouted Emil, Kratos turning in his seat at one of the wooden desks to see the Knight's eyes flashing red. Ratatosk was kicking in. "Why does everyone always stand up for that murderer?" he cried. "He's a monster that caused the destruction in Palmacosta and all he wants is more bloodshed!"

"I dare say that there are many people who would agree with you on both accounts."

"W-what?"

"How could you say something like that?!"

Emil's eyes faded back to green, Marta's, however, filled with tears. Kratos knew instinctively what was coming next. Having spent the past too many months traveling with them; Marta would become over-emotional and leave the room and he, Emil, and Tenebrae would be forced to comfort her. The only question now was what was she crying over now?

"How can you say things like that? Aren't you his old teacher? That's what we were told! If you were one of his friends, how can you talk about your student, you friend, like that?"

Ah; she was having moral issues.

Marta turned from them, tears in her eyes, and bolted toward the door. A few seconds later, they heard the door slam. The girl was gone.

Kratos exchanged a vaguely annoyed look with Emil's kindly, concerned one and then glanced at the slightly surprised looking Raine. The teacher's eyes were wide, but she seemed to understand what had snapped Marta.

"C-come on, Kratos, we should go after her…" It was not quite a sigh, but Kratos could sense some hidden emotion under Emil's concern. He could not, however, figure out what it was. At the moment, though, it was pushed to the back of his mind; there was too much going on at the moment for him to look into the Knight's emotions too far.

Kratos nodded mutely and stood to follow the boy, however, the Gods seemed to be against him again, for Raine put a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Actually, could you go alone, I need to talk to your friend."

Kratos felt his heart sink; Raine was going to try to get answers out of him, and he was going to have to tell some very convincing lies in order to elude her.

Emil, looking friendly and air-headed as usual, nodded his consent and unknowingly left his friend to his untimely doom.

Raine waited until the door leading to the outside world had slammed shut once again before speaking quietly to Kratos.

"Do you know Lloyd?" she asked simply.

He could safely tell her this. "Yes."

"How?"

"We met recently." By Seraph's standards anyway.

"When?"

"I do not remember the exact date." Out-right lie; he would always know Lloyd's birthday.

"Do not try to be funny," the Professor snapped, suddenly angry. "How do you know Lloyd Irving?"

Silence stretched for a long moment as Kratos tried to decide what to tell her, and what not to. After a moment he let out a rather convincing sigh that sounded as though he were giving in.

"I met him while he was trying to collect exspheres."

Raine looked livid. "I'll have you know that I traveled with Lloyd for a good amount of that Journey; he would have mentioned you."

Kratos shrugged; "What he tells you and what he does not are his business. Not mine, nor yours."

Livid went to murderous as Raine continued to glare at Kratos. "What is your name?"

Pointless to try and lie.

"Kratos Aurion."

The angry color drained from Raine's face, into shock. Kratos read the emotions that flashed openly across her face; frustration, anger, mortification, and the one that he had been expecting; stubborn disbelief. She would not have believed it was he had he, and he would never in a billion years do so, danced naked in front of her. She was too bent on the fact that he had left, and he had no doubt that she had been rather happy with the concept; she never having liked him much either.

"I… see," she stated at long last. "At one point we had a companion by the same name. Colette told me of your coming, but I had still not believed it until now."

So Colette had told Raine, somehow that did not surprise Kratos.

"Is there anything else you wish to speak to me about?" Kratos asked coolly.

"Do you know where Lloyd is?"

Finally, another honest answer; "No."

"And I assume you have no idea of his actions of late."

"If you are referring to Palmacosta, I have not met him on friendly terms since joining with Emil and Marta so as to ask him of it. However, we have met him on several occasions; if you wish to know more, I would expect the children would be better sources then I for this information."

Speak of the Devil and he shall appear; Emil and Marta burst through the door at that moment; Emil's arm around Marta's shoulders, and Marta with an arm resting around the young Knight's waist. Both were trying, and failing, not to look smug about this. Kratos mentally rolled his eyes.

"Have you settled down?" Kratos' words still held the chill of talking to Raine, and, though he did not mean to, the frost settled down onto Emil and Marta as well.

"Uh… y-yes, thanks Kratos. How about you? What's going on?"

"I just had a few questions for your friend. Now that you've settled down… The Mayor told me all about the three of you." That explained some of her suspicion as well. "Yes, you are correct in assuming that I was Lloyd's teacher; I traveled with him for a long time. You want to know why I both defend Lloyd, and scorn his supposed actions of late? It is because that, despite what has been said and done in the past six months, there are thousands of people, a world's worth in fact, that do owe Lloyd their lives.

"This may, in some ways, go against everything you know, but it is true. However, the Lloyd that I know, and the Lloyd that has been acting these past few months are two very different people. I know very well how peoples' hearts and actions can change in a blink of an eye. The Lloyd I knew would never have slaughtered the innocent, yet there are reports of him doing just that in Palmacosta. My opinion of Lloyd's actions will not change yours, will it? If I am incorrect, you are setting off on a pointless quest.

"I have never said, nor will you ever hear me say that Lloyd is innocent in all of this. If he is, in fact, not committing these crimes, then it is his fault for not explaining to at least those he once counted as friends what is going on."

"Wait… are you saying that you truly don't trust Lloyd?" Marta's reinstated disbelief was a mirroring of Kratos' own.

Emil's eyes flashed into Ratatosk Mode again.

"Trusting Lloyd and believing the reports of what happened in Palmacosta are two entirely different things. Whatever Lloyd did in the past; things, people, _do_ change. Sometimes this is a very… regrettable occurrence."

Kratos' mind flashed to Mithos; the once bright and optimistic child that he had taught during the Kharlan War, turned madman when Martel had died. He knew that Ms. Sage's thoughts were somewhere in the same area.

"Calm yourselves, otherwise you shall be blind to everything, including the truth."

This did not seem to help Emil, whose anger only increased when told to "calm down".

"How can you talk so calmly about this?" roared the Ratatosk spirit. "If Lloyd is supposedly so great, then pick a damn side and stay on it! If you want to go back-and-forth and weigh the pros and cons then that's your business, but tell us when you decided so we know if we can trust you or not!"

"My opinion should not make a difference on your own."

"It does-," Emil froze and paled. He had gotten angry enough to let Ratatosk out again, and exploded at Raine and while it was not the most intelligent thing that could have been done, Kratos had to admit that yelling at her would have been rather refreshing. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I-I shouldn't have y-yelled. I'm sorry."

Raine, though slightly put-off by this abrupt change in persona, took it smoothly.

"That's fine; you have nothing to apologize for. To you, Lloyd is simply the man who killed your parents. But you must understand that there are people who will never see eye-to-eye with you."

"But, if you're his friend…"

"I think I shall always be Lloyd's friend. He was a good person to my brother and myself, however, what happened in Palmacosta… must be taken into account as well. I may have faith in him, but there are too many things against Lloyd's favor at the moment for us to make any assumptions for better or for worse."

While the three had been having a heart-to-heart, Kratos had been watching their exchange with what could only be an angel's point of view; two emotional teenagers, one being Ratatosk himself, who was not exactly known for his good temperament, and the other a slightly emotionally unbalanced girl, trying to have a logical conversation with a woman that was so calculating at times that she could be called heartless. Mortals could be such emotional creatures. There was a subconscious thought floating around in the back of Kratos' head that read, _you are only being so calculating yourself because you do not want to think about what she is saying,_ however, Kratos blatantly ignored that thought. Kratos, himself, was only slightly abashed, or so he was convincing himself, at what she was saying. She may or may not trust his son, a son that he had only really talked to about this type of thing _once_ and he could not honestly say that he had any more clues what was going on then the children.

In a nutshell, this was not his day.

On the plus side though, it sounded as though Raine had a contact who knew where Lloyd was, or so she said. Maybe this could turn out after all.

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**Dang, Kratos got kinda cold at the end there. **

**Oh, a note on RaineXLloyd; I do not plan on making it anymore than what I had in the past two chapters. No more heavy hinting, no more, really, talk of it for a while. They won't have much contact with Lloyd while Raine's in the group (with the exception of the Triet Ruins of course) and I don't plan on going into Raine's POV so if you're not a big fan of the pairing, don't go running just yet… please?**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	34. In Which All are Questioned by Raine

**Arghh! Long, busy week; School's open house Tuesday, Birthday party over the weekend, babysitting Wednesday and Thursday, Thursday evening we're leaving to go the Cabin for one last weekend. Shoot me, it's been such a hassle to get this chapter up. Anywho…**

**Lots of character interaction that will become important later, not that it's not entertaining now. Raine's making a name for herself and she's only been there a day. Bit jumpy at the beginning, I'll pick it up again in the desert.**

**Disclaimer: Should I own Tales of Symphonia, which I don't, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.**

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Having heard what the man who had supposedly seen Lloyd had to say, it was an almost unanimous decision that they, meaning Raine as well, would set off in the direction in which they had been directed. As they had no other leads, and Iselia had proved to be only minutely helpful, the group of four (now five) were forced to face relative defeat and follow what leads they could. This by no means pleased Kratos, however, even avenging angels could do only so much.

As circumstances went, theirs could have been much better as, much to Kratos' horror, they were now traveling with Raine Sage. Marta seemed thrilled with the prospect of having another female in the party. Emil seemed slightly awkward around the older woman. Tenebrae seemed simply fascinated. The introductions that had gone on between half-elf and Centurion had been most amusing; a familiar, terrifying glint had lit in the woman's eyes and even the emotionally distant Kratos had felt a twinge of sympathy as Tenebrae had been poked and prodded by a slightly crazed Raine.

And so, following their lead, Kratos, Emil, Raine, Marta, and Tenebrae set off toward the Triet Ruins. This was a concept that terrified the normally unshakable Seraph.

It took all of two day's travel to reach the Ruins; the time was spent mostly in silent wandering as they retraced their footsteps down the continent and though the desert. Once they reached the hot, blowing sands of Triet Desert, most of their energy was spent attempting to make it though alive. Emil and Marta were both unused to such harsh weather and were, therefore, mostly silent when traveling. Raine, it seemed, had retained the traveling experience she had gained during their Journey of Regeneration. Kratos, whose angelic abilities would allow him no feel of the desert's heat or dehydration, could have made it in a single day and night of walking; however, being amongst mortals, they stopped and made camp at night.

It was during this break that Raine decided to interrogate Kratos again.

Kratos, who had been distancing himself more and more from the rest of the group, had not spoken for almost twenty-four hours and was starting to worry Emil and Marta, though most of their thoughts were centered on the heat. Raine who, though she seemed to be suffering, was carrying herself well and seemed to be mostly focused in her own mind. She had not spoken for some time either.

"So, Kratos," she began the conversation in such a manner as to attempt to evade Kratos' guard. The attempt failed. "do you have any family?"

"…" Kratos only looked at the half-elven woman with cool, red eyes.

Raine did not seem put-off by Kratos in the least. She had lasted though the defeat of Cruxis; Kratos supposed that she would have to have become at least slightly immune to the glares and looks of the Seraphim.

"Have you been a mercenary for long? We had a companion who was a mercenary. He had your same name as well. Did you know?"

"I did."

"…I suppose Lloyd would have told you."

Emil and Marta watched the whole thing as one would a tennis match, their eyes bouncing back-and-forth as each spoke. Tenebrae, who knew much better than either child what Raine was doing, was curled in the air looking amused. The monsters, which had been sitting around the fire, were now looking interested and listening as well.

"He may have mentioned it at one point, though the conversation does not come to mind. I actually found out in one of your books."

Blunt, cold, simple, Kratos' words cut off anything that Raine would have next said.

"I…see." Raine sighed. "So when was it that you met Lloyd, Kratos, you talk as if you know him well."

At this, Kratos turned a full-scale "death-glare" on the teacher. She had questioned him too much for him to feel any sense of mercy. She paled, but managed not to react any more than that. "If you do not mind, what is my business is mine alone and not something that you need concern yourself with. I believe we covered as much the last time such subjects were breeched."

"…" For a moment, it looked as though Kratos had won. Whatever Raine had been about to say died in her throat, however, this being Raine Sage, she was back questioning him a moment later. Now, however, she had changed tactics. "That sort of attitude only concerns me more, Mr. Aurion. It seems as though you are hiding something. Under the circumstances we should hide as little as possible as it seems that neither party has the full trust of the other."

"What "party" do you consider yourself on, Ms. Sage? Because I see no one on your side. Emil and Marta, I can safely say, will side with myself, as will the monsters. You are, as you have always been, disposable. Do not push your luck with me, my patience is wearing thin."

Kratos realized his mistake all too late.

""_As you have always been"._ You speak as though you are referring to a time in the distant past. We only met two days ago I might point out." Raine smirked triumphantly, "What is it that you are hiding Mr. Aurion?"

"Many things, but, then again, you have your fair share of secrets as well." Kratos rose and called coolly, "Sophie, come. We shall circle the area. Nero, take Eon and go in the opposite direction. I'll meet with you in fifteen minutes." As he walked away, he called over his shoulder, "Do not search for answers you shall never receive."

A final warning to an all-too-nosy woman.

……………..

Kratos and Sophie walked quietly together in the cool night air. The dessert had always been more preferable to Kratos during the night, not simply as a human, but still as an angel, it stuck him as a place that the sun only distorted. Perhaps it was only him romanticizing it; however, the stars had always been more visible in the desert. They seemed so close as one need only reach out their hand to touch the millions of tiny pinpoints of light that riddled the heavens. It had been this way in Derris Kharlan as well; however, being in the stars was different as enjoying the otherworldly spectacle from the planet.

Wordlessly, Kratos stopped and sat. Sophie obediently followed suit. She had been able to tell from the moment her master had summoned her that he wanted to separate himself from the half-elf and surveillance was as good an excuse as any. Besides, it only took five minutes to circle the campsite, leaving them ten to speak.

"_I'm sorry Master Kratos. She is prying too much. I don't know that there's anything that I can do about it, but…"_

"Thank you for your concern; however, it seems to me that there is no way to stop that woman once she begins something."

"_I noticed. She's kinda' annoying sometimes. Did you know her on the last Journey?"_

"Yes. She was Lloyd's teacher, as you know. She was supposed to one of the few that were meant to go on the Journey of Regeneration in the first place. She and I were to escort the Chosen Colette to her death. At the end of the Journey I was supposed to rid myself of her. It would surprise no one when she did not come back."

"_Do you regret not killing her?"_

Kratos was surprised at the Alraune's question. She was not generally the type that was so morbid as to think that. As well as her alliteration seemed to have been getting better.

"No, Sophie, I do not wish her dead. I had many chances to rid myself of her burden, but I did not. And in some ways she was a very useful asset. That does not make her personally easier to work with. But I am not known for angelic patience because I destroy all those who anger me. If I did, Yuan would have been dead long ago."

Sophie chuckled nervously. _"What are you gonna' do?"_

"Continuing as I have is probably not in my best interest, I suppose. I doubt she would believe the truth of it. What would you suggest?"

"_Well, you can't tell her what you told Lord Emil and Lady Marta; she knew the old you."_

"Indeed."

"_You could just say you met him while they, Raine and Lloyd I mean, were apart and you helped Lloydie do somethin'. She'd probably believe it if you lied convincingly enough."_

"Yes, but at this point, I somehow doubt that she would believe anything as she seems convinced of my guilt in some unreal crime."

"_So lie. You tend to be good enough at that."_

Kratos was taken aback again at the coolness in Sophie's voice. What had happened to the innocent little creature that he had first pacted with? In so little time, she had matured and learned the crude skills that it took to live in the way that Kratos did.

"You sound as though you have spent too much time in my company. For that I am sorry."

Sophie looked at him blankly. _"Whatdaya' mean Master Kratos?"_ She blinked.

Kratos chuckled; here was Sophie as he remembered her.

"Never you mind, apparently children, whether they are yours or not, grow up too quickly."

"_Are you talking about Lloyd?"_

"Don't worry about it."

Although his time with Sophie did not relieve Kratos of his problems, it did take his mind off of the future that loomed before him. Raine would not leave or relent her questions, but he was Kratos Aurion. Lies came too naturally for comfort to him. He could handle it. However, this relief did not stop him from retreating into his shell more and more over the coming hours of travel with his reluctant companions.

Since Lloyd had reopened the doors of Kratos' sealed soul and mercilessly dragged the screaming soul by its ankles from the depths within, Kratos had not been so cut-off. But the lack of information, stress, and overall confusion that he had been dragged into sent him scurrying into himself.

……………….

While Kratos, Sophie, Nero, and Eon had left the campsite, Raine had taken advantage of her first moments alone with the two teenagers to question them of their Journey and interrogate them about their friend. She wagered that she had at least twenty minutes alone with them if Kratos was to meet with his Gremlin and Polywiggle in fifteen minutes and then take five minutes back.

That was, of course, if nothing went wrong or the mercenary did not change his plans.

After beginning light conversation, Raine questioned them on every aspect of their Journey. "So Kratos just appeared in Palmacosta? You hadn't met him before?"

"No Ma'ma, he offered to take me to the next town and I ended up telling him everything. Then Tenebrae Knighted him and-."

"So he too is a Knight of Ratatosk?"

"Yeah." Marta looked strangely at Raine. "That's why he has his monsters, obviously."

"So being a Knight of Ratatosk implies that you gain Ratatosk's strength in battle and you can control his legions."

"No, Kratos doesn't get Ratatosk's power when he fights, only the monsters. He didn't ask for anything else and Tenebrae figured he was strong enough on his own too… Wait, at first Kratos didn't want to make a pact, didn't he? It was only until you offered a half-pact that Kratos agreed… I wonder why he didn't want to make one."

"Mr. Aurion has many of his own secrets," said Tenebrae carelessly, "I do not fear for your safety Lady Marta, nor for Emil's therefore I do not worry about Kratos."

"Hmm…" Raine looked into the blue-tinted desert. So Kratos had been doing strange things without explanation since he had joined with these three… Something was very off here. Certainly he was a powerful fighter, his monsters were loyal, as were his friends, but he looked almost _exactly_ like Kratos, Lloyd's father that had departed the planet to go to Derris Kharlan two years ago. It was not possible that he could have come back. Derris Kharlan would have been seen if it had been in the area and she herself had done a study of the comet's orbit for Lloyd and Cruxis old base was not to pass the Symphonian planet for another millennia and a half.

Was there a way that someone could be attempting to impersonate him?

Nothing added up; why was Emil so possessed by Ratatosk's power that he changed personality when fighting or angry, whereas Kratos did not change at all. Looking further into things was necessary for a proper theory to be devised.

"Marta, may I see Ratatosk's Core please?"

"Of course." Marta smiled openly and Raine leaned in to better look at the glistening red jewel in the firelight. It sat there, twinkling in the warm glow made by the fire. The Core looked innocent enough, just a jewel. It was odd though, there did not seem to be enough mana radiating from the Core for it to be an all-powerful Summon Sprit. Perhaps this was what all Cores were like in the dormant state. Perhaps that was not, in fact, the real Core…

"Fascinating," murmured Raine, "simply fascinating. Who would have thought that I would ever get so close as to actually be able to see Ratatosk's Core? You say that he was the Spirit of the Giant Kharlan Tree? The one that was destroyed by the Ancient Kharlan War?"

"That is correct," amended Tenebrae, "Lord Ratatosk was part of the Tree that the elves originally planted on this planet to create mana here when they came from Derris Kharlan."

"What? Tenebrae you mean that that stuff about the Giant mana-giving Tree is actually _real?"_ Marta demanded of the Centurion. "I always thought that was just a kid's story!"

"No Lady Marta. Mana reformed this planet almost ten thousand years ago when the elves first arrived. Humans and the Protozoans, like Noishe, were able to populate the planet without mana, but thrived when in was introduced. So this history of the World begins; the Centurions were created shortly after the Summon Spirits were born to this world to control the mana-born creatures, now called monsters, which were created. Lord Ratatosk protected the Tree until the Kharlan war, a war what lasted one thousand years, brought about the end of an era.

"The Humans that caused the war were using very advanced, but wasteful technology. The Kharlan Tree could not produce mana fast enough to keep the World, the Summon Spirits, and the other creatures what lived there, alive. It wore itself out trying to produce mana. In one last act, it produced the Giant Seed to Mithos the Hero and his companions in hopes that the World could still be saved.

"Alas, it seems it took four thousand years for the Great Seed to germinate and the World to be saved at long last. It is said that Mithos somehow saved it."

Tenebrae finished his story with a snort, "Mithos the Hero I'm sure." He said sarcastically.

"Wait, what are you talking about Tenebrae, I thought that the Desians started the war!" Marta said, staring at the Centurion. "That's what all the texts of Martel said… Wait, you didn't know what the Desians were! We had to explain them to you. You wouldn't have forgotten something that important!"

Now Marta was looking at Tenebrae accusingly: she knew that she was being lied to, of course, by whom she was still unsure.

"Do you know what you're talking about Tenebrae?"

"Ah, Lady Marta, if you keep asking questions like that, you may just uncover the biggest secret this World has ever held."

The Centurion's cryptic statement left both Emil and Marta completely lost; however, Raine was unnerved; Tenebrae obviously knew the truth behind the Church and the split Worlds. But what did this so called "Kratos Aurion" know?

………………

Lloyd's lone Rheiard flew toward the Triet Ruins. Somehow, Lloyd was still not entirely sure how Yuan had found this out; a Centurion's Core was discovered to be hidden in the old Seal. The last time he had come here, they had made a pact with the Summon Spirit of Fire, Efreet. Sheena had made the pact and the mana link with Celsius, the Spirit of Ice. When they had still believed in the Church, Colette had lost her sense of taste and gotten wings when they had met Remiel, Colette's "guardian angel" from Heaven.

The bastard had claimed to be her father in order to get her to go through the trials faster. In the end, after releasing all four Seals and going to the Tower of Salvation, they had been ultimately told of Cruxis' goals and Colette's soul had been stolen by the final stages of the Cruxis Crystal. They had fought their first angels that day, something that Lloyd had quickly grown accustomed to in later months.

It was there that they had first fought Kratos as well, and gotten their asses handed to them.

Kratos was not called the Angel of Death for nothing; he was a heartless killing monster when he held his blade in hand. Lloyd, Raine, Genis, and Sheena had all nearly been annihilated singlehandedly by Kratos, when he was going to let them go. Or, so that was the plan. Until Yggdrasill showed up.

Mithos Yggdrasill, wearing his "Leader of Cruxis" form had told them of Cruxis' connections with the Desians and of the true goal of Cruxis, to find a vessel for Martel and begin the Age of Lifeless Beings. This had been Mithos' grand scheme to stop discrimination against half-elves in accordance with a twisted version of Martel's last wishes.

They were about to be destroyed by the Angel Lord when Botta, as well as several dozen other Renegades burst in and saved them. Lloyd had been knocked unconscious by the initial shock wave that the Eternal Sword had put out and he awoke in the Sylvarant Base in Triet Desert. Yuan and Botta had explained all about Cruxis to Lloyd and the others before they stole Yuan's Rheiards and escaping to Tethe'alla.

Speaking of the Sylvarant Base, Lloyd looked down as he passed the dark, silver building. It loomed almost invisible next to the sandstone cliffs that surrounded the desert. Once, Lloyd had needed to use the Dimensional Transport System designed and made by the Renegades to go between the Worlds.

Now he could fly wherever he wanted.

So, Ignus' Core was in the Triet Ruins. He wondered how long it would take before Emil, Marta, Kratos, and Tenebrae showed up.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**Uh… yeah. Lots of explained TOS background info. Also sorry I didn't get this up on Friday, fanfiction was being stupid and not letting me upload anything.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	35. In Which Genis Enters the Plot

**Chapter 35.**

**A small note on Yoshi's life so far… Hey, sup? I've been working really hard to get updates to you, and so far it's been working. Unfortunately, what with school having started up once again, I'm facing a much larger workload and, therefore, less free time. I still expect to be getting your chapters up, but reviews and whatnot help. A lot. Danke sehr!**

**Anyway…**

**Kratos lies his ass off, Genis swears, Raine Ruin Modes, Emil tries to make sense of it all, and Tenebrae continues to give everyone hell, and gets Emil beat up for it. Lloyd enjoys watching the whole thing from afar, and Raine and Marta find they have something in common; Kratos. Welcome to the Triet Ruins Ladies and Gentlemen! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Tales of Symphonia or the sequel, Apocalyptica would do the background music. I obviously don't own it. Oh, and everyone would drink Vitamin Water.**

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"Ah! My precious Ruins!" screamed a highly distraught, though that could be considered a gross understatement, Raine as she surveyed the snow-and-ice-covered stone that at one point had been the oldest known civilization in the world. "The Oracle Stone, the polycarbonate! It's all gone! I knew that there had been some destruction in the area, but I didn't think it was _this_ bad!"

Emil and Marta exchanged a worried look and Tenebrae even went so far as to cover his ears with his paws. The black Centurion was crouched humorlessly in the air as Noishe would have been had he been trying to block out sound, his large paws covering his ears and his eyes shut tight. Most of the monsters with available hands were doing much the same, though Eon was just adding to the noise with his shouts of _"Make it _stop_!"_ Kratos simply stood serenely, taking in the sight of Raine's pain with good the good humor of one who had been constantly harassed for too long.

Raine had not ceased questioning Kratos for the past several hours, since he had returned the night before, up until they had seen Lloyd's Rheiard flying in the direction of the Triet Ruins. They had taken off running, following the strange red shape in the cloudless blue sky.

After all, with that shade of red, who else could it be?

When they had reached the Ruins, boot prints in the snow had showed where Lloyd had landed the Rheiard, pulled it into his wingpack, and walked off, apparently at a comfortable trot, around the door where they had entered with Colette, the one that Raine was now crying over, and slipped further into the Ruins that were above the ground. There were smaller footprints that seemed to follow Lloyd's trail, though if they were made at the same time, or a short time later, Kratos could not tell.

Needless to say, they were going to meet more than Lloyd inside the Triet Ruins.

Much of the Ruins were subterranean; Trit, what was now called Triet, had originally been built around, and had taken its power from Efreet's Volcano, which resided deep underground and created most, if not all, of the fire mana in the area. Its "children" of sorts, other tubes of volcanic lava, had created the mountain range that surrounded Triet Desert and the mountains combined with the excessive fire mana had begun the desert.

During the Kharlan War, Efreet had begun to get frustrated watching his mana used to create weapons as his town fell to Ruins around itself, and so, he had destroyed it. Kratos, Yuan, Mithos, and Martel had been half-way 'round the world when it had happened. There were no survivors.

Anyone who had lived there and had not been obliterated had been trading to nearby cities; they came together and created Triet, the Desert Jewel.

It seemed that it had been destroyed again, but this time by the wrath of Celsius.

"Oh, this must have been what Colette meant by maniac," said Emil in a disturbingly loud voice. This snapped the Professor out of her Ruin Mode-ing as she spun on her heal to glare at the now horrified Knight.

"Excuse me? What did you say?!" she cried.

"N-nothing, i-it's just that I remember Colette saying something about a friend of hers who w-was totally different w-when she got a-around r-ruins! N-now I see w-what she m-means!"

"She called me a "maniac"?" hissed Raine.

"Yes, she described her friend's antics as insane, terrifying, frightening, psychotic, and slightly off-key," Tenebrae informed the infuriated school teacher as she glared at the now shaking Emil.

"And you think that _I_ am that way, Emil?"

"N-no ma'am! I swear!"

"Oh ho! This should be most amusing!" chortled Tenebrae.

"_Tenebrae,_ quit making stuff up!" cried Emil as Raine advanced on the teen, whose life was now flashing before his eyes.

"Should we not enter the ruins and find Lloyd before he escapes our grasp once more?" asked Kratos as he and Marta stepped in-between the angered woman and timid boy. Kratos' hand was fastened to his sword, a fact that Raine did not miss.

"Very well," Raine said at long last, relaxing her stance. Kratos did not. "You are correct; our personal squabbles should come second to finding Lloyd."

"Whew." Emil seemed to deflate in Marta's arms as she slipped her hand into his as they followed Lloyd's footsteps around the main platform.

Lloyd's path lead them to an opening about the size of a door that, several flights of steps later, deposited them in the exact same location as the door that Cruxis had used to allow the Chosen and her companions inside.

It was dark, no longer lit by the orange glow of the lava that no longer inhabited the catacombs. Raine pulled out her staff and summoned a ball of light to guild their way. It was much warmer inside than out, however, it was still much colder than it should have been.

Marta sighed, "Man, it's cold! I thought this was supposed to be a _desert_, why's it so cold?"

"Actually, this used to be the Seal of Fire where Efreet was imprisoned. Perhaps it was his release that caused the climate change…" Raine pondered from where she held aloft the light up front.

"Actually," Tenebrae ghosted out of thin air, happy to correct them all, "I sense Ignis' Core here; it would not surprise me if this is where the Core was sent to rest. That would also explain Lloyd's presence in an otherwise rather odd location. The climate change is probably being caused by a dormant Centurion Core."

"Centurions are so strange…" mused Emil. "I mean, some of them make the weather go all crazy; some of them make their monsters attack. They must be really, really powerful."

"Yes Emil; that is why it is difficult for unprotected mortals to posses or even touch them. That kind of power is dangerous."

"Fascinating!" Raine murmured.

"Oh, this is just freaking ridiculous!" growled a voice. It was not from any of them, and it was not Lloyd. Kratos' mind flashed to the child's footsteps that had followed Lloyd's path. Whoever had made those footprints was still here now.

"Genis?" cried Raine.

"W-what?" came the stuttered reply. "Sis?!"

The Professor took off running up the passage and took the light with her, forcing Kratos, Emil, Marta, and the monsters to run after her. When they finally caught up with the silver haired teacher, she was having a moment with the one-and-only Genis Sage; child mage.

Kratos and Genis had never gotten along, and Kratos let out a soft sigh under his breath; could things get much more annoying? Genis had never trusted Kratos, as his sister had never, and Kratos had always, as he did now, thought that Genis was far too young to be on a journey to save the World. Unfortunately, he had been proved wrong. Of course, this being Kratos, he had never acknowledged his mistake and, therefore, Genis' opinion of Kratos was still that of a pompous, full-of-himself jackass.

Not that he would ever use that exact wording in front of his sister.

"Hey, who're these guys?" asked Genis, looking around his sister to where Kratos, Emil, Marta, and the monsters were standing. "And why are there… are those monsters with them?!"

"Ah, right, Genis, this is Emil, Marta, Kratos, and their monsters. But what are you doing here? I thought the plan was to meet in Iselia."

"Oh, well, see, I was in Triet, and then I saw Lloyd. Did you know that he got his Rheiard back? Anyway, he didn't see me, so I followed him here. I wondered what he was doing in the Triet Ruins, so I went inside to ask him."

"Um, Raine, who's this?" asked Marta.

"Oh, pardon me; this is my brother, Genis Sage. He also traveled with us during the Journey of Regeneration."

"It's nice to meet you, Genis. I'm Marta."

"I'm Emil," chimed in the Knight.

"Kratos."

"W-what, really?!" even in the dim light it was easy to see the shock written across the child-mage's face. "Raine, like _Kratos_ Kratos?"

"Yes Genis. Kratos Aurion."

While the Sage siblings whispered back-and-forth quietly, Emil leaned over and whispered softly to Kratos, "You sure make a splash every time you're introduced. I'm still trying to figure out why nobody knows that you're you."

"As am I," Kratos replied.

"Anyway, shouldn't we get going?" asked Raine several long seconds later. "If we want to catch up with Lloyd, we should move faster."

"Ah, right, see, here's the thing; there's like this huge monster that's asleep and blocking the path and there's no way in h- well, there's just no way we're getting past." Genis blushed, "It's just not happening."

"Hmm? Let me see." Genis shrieked as Tenebrae ghosted onto the scene.

"What the hell is that thing?" he cried.

"I am Centurion Tenebrae," the Centurion introduced himself. "Ah, this is a Bartek, it tends to like warmer climates such as the desert. It probably came in here to protect itself from the cold."

"Y-yeah. That's what I thought too, but when I attacked it, it just absorbed my attacks!"

Tenebrae looked down at the disgruntled half-elven child. "Yes, it went into hibernation. When a Bartek goes into hibernation, it can absorb most attacks. The only way to awaken it would be to put food near it. That would probably wake it."

Tenebrae nodded self-assuredly. "Yes, I am sure that if we put some fresh-water monsters near it, it would awaken almost immediately."

"So we need some fresh-water monsters to tempt it awake?" asked Emil. "But we're in the middle of the desert! Where are we going to find any water?!"

Triet Oasis is only an hour's walk from here," said Raine, "It would not take us that long to go there and come back. If we're efficient it should only take us three hours or so. Lloyd would have to get all the way to the Core, get it, get out, and get past the monster. Last time we were here, it took us nearly a day to find and release the Seal. And the pact with Efreet took just as much time. We should be fine."

"O-okay…"

"Right."

"Sounds good."

"…"

Another unanimous decision and the group, plus one, was retracing their steps out of the destroyed city, making their way across the desert toward the Oasis.

On the way, Raine, Emil, Tenebrae, and Marta filled Genis in on how they had come to be together and Marta, Emil, and Kratos' Journey.

"I can't believe that Lloyd would do something like that!" cried Genis after they had finished their story. "I _know_ Lloyd, he's my best friend! He wouldn't do that! He _couldn't_ do that!"

"Then how do you explain what happened to my parents?" hissed Emil, his eyes flashing again.

"I don't know, but I'm sure that he'll talk to us, I mean, he's my best friend, and we tell each other everything."

"Genis…" murmured Raine, "Please don't get your hopes up. I've tried talking to him. He won't listen to us."

"You've seen him?"

"When?"

"…" Raine shook her head. "I… It was awhile time ago."

"Wait…" Emi said suddenly. "Didn't Yuan say something about he and Lloyd being in the Iselia Human Ranch together and getting separated after Nero and Sophie scared them? You were in the Human Ranch too, weren't you? Was that when you saw Lloyd?"

Apparently Raine had been hoping that no one knew about that. Now even Kratos was listening.

"Raine? Wait, you talked to Yuan? Who're Nero and Sophie?" Genis was torn between finding out about Lloyd, Yuan, or the unknown names.

"Yeah, Kratos knows him," explained Marta, "And they're Nero and Sophie." She gestured behind at the two monsters floating and walking behind them. Sophie waved and Nero grinned, showing her fangs.

"T-they can understand what you're saying?" Genis looked nervous.

"Of course. Monsters are not stupid," sniffed Tenebrae.

"Y-yeah, of course not… anyway, you know Yuan?" The question was directed at Kratos whom Genis had yet to actually hear speak.

"Yes." Best to just go along with it… right?

"But how do you know him? Yuan's not the type of person who just makes friends of anyone who walks down the street."

Damn perceptive child.

"_Lie."_ Sophie's suggestion drifted from behind. The words just drifted from Kratos' mouth.

"It is a long story…"

As soon as the words were out of Kratos' mouth, he wished he had not said anything; now both Raine and Genis were eyeing Kratos suspiciously.

"Oh, really? Well, it's still pretty far to Triet, we've got time." Genis glared.

Raine eyed Kratos wearily; he could not give the same "my business is my own" answer that he had time and time again. Marta and Emil were apparently not going to come to his rescue. There seemed to be no outlet. Yet.

Kratos opened his mouth to say _something,_ though he did not know yet what he was going to say, when he was saved by a most unlikely party: Tenebrae.

"Aren't you too nosy?" he chirped from his place in the air. "Honestly, we all have our friends, if it is so strange that Kratos knows Yuan, then we should be asking how the two of you know him."

Both half-elves fixed their glares on the Centurion and Kratos shot Tenebrae a grateful glance, which the creature gleefully returned behind Raine and Genis' backs.

"We encountered him during our first journey. He was both a help and a hindrance though, to his credit, he was _trying_ to do the right thing." Raine practically growled her reply to Tenebrae. "Your turn."

"That sounds like Yuan!" cried Emil, blundering aimlessly into the midst of their conversation. "The two times we talked to him, he was really annoying. Apparently he and Lloyd were supposed to be spying on Kratos when we were in the Ranch. Good thing Sophie and Nero scared them so bad. Actually, you should have seen Yuan's face!"

Here, Emil took a breath, and Marta jumped in; "Yeah, actually, he kinda' reminds me of Tenebrae, you know? He's always grouchy when we say him, kinda' stuffy, and he talks like an old man!"

"Did you just refer to my noble personage as old, Lady Marta?" Tenebrae, for once, took to the teasing with a good nature, seeing as it distracted from Kratos.

Raine and Genis joined reluctantly as there was obviously no way that they were going to be allowed to bring their topic to the surface again. Kratos could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude at what his three new, or, by now, not so new, friends had done for him. They were, in fact, all in this together now.

Raine caught Kratos' eye, and both adults' glares intensified. She would stop at nothing to get to the bottom of this little mystery, but, Kratos knew, she would never believe the truth. It was at this point, Kratos assumed, that most would see their life flash before their eyes, unfortunately that would have taken all day had it happened, so Kratos was grateful he did not fall into the cliché.

………………

Triet was covered in snow. It was a sad sight, as most of the people who lived there were homeless, or lived in tents and could not fend off the cold. People huddled together, many of them complete strangers, around fires trying to ward off the chilling wind. Celsius' merciless fingers stirred up snow and ice and blew them at the shivering citizens.

Triet had been a very lively, bustling town, now, however, no one spoke and the only sound was that of feet falling through the snowy crust to meet the frozen sands underneath.

"S-so t-the-e O-o-oas-sis is h-he-ere?" Emil could barely speak his teeth were chattering so hard.

"M-mmh-hmm." Genis was just as bad, in his shorts and short sleeves.

Marta seemed to be freezing too, her short dress offering no protection from the chilling winds. Kratos and Raine were both mostly unaffected as they had heavy over-coats that kept the winds out. Kratos would not have been able to feel the cold as it was.

"Here," he slipped his coat off and slid it around Marta. He still had a black top underneath, though it was rather tighter than he would normally have warn in public without something over it, it would have to do. Emil glared at him and, for a moment, Kratos was unsure as to why exactly he was so angry.

Then he understood; Emil was viewing Kratos as competition for Marta.

Kratos caught his eye and shrugged one shoulder to show his intent was innocent enough and, though this obviously did not appease the young Knight, he did seem to relax a bit. All though this, Kratos and Emil failed to notice that both Marta's and Raine's eyes were glued to the elder male, or more specifically, his now uncovered upper body.

Once they reached the Oasis, it was found to be totally covered in ice. There was a collective sigh as they took in the sight.

"…I suppose I could melt the ice with a spell…" muttered Genis.

"Could we just cut our way though?" Emil looked hopeful at this prospect.

"No, the ice is obviously too deep." Kratos shot it down.

"Well then what are we going to do?" Marta was becoming moody because of the cold.

"I remember that there is a lake in Flanoir," began Kratos, "and it is almost always frozen. It does, however, hold fish that are considered a delicacy in Meltokio."

"How the hell does a Tethe'allen culture lesson help us here?" cried Marta.

"In order to catch the fish, they cut though the ice using special tools and fish using fishing rods."

Genis grinned. "I could burn a little hole and we can fish out the bait!"

"Perfect."

Genis burned a perfect circle in the frozen water and Tenebrae demonstrated a Centurion skill by transforming himself into a fishing rod. Emil was somehow picked to be the fisherman, and they were set. The only problem?

It took them hours to find the right bait.

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**Well, there you go, the next chapter should finish the Triet Ruins, maybe two chapters…**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	36. In Which Lloyd's Motives are Questioned

**Guten tag! (That all depends on what time you're reading this of course…)**

**Revelations, an Archelon named Lissy, Ratatosk Mode, man-trains, and Lloyd all await you in the next exciting portion of the Triet Ruins! I hope that this dungeon chappie will turn out better than the last…**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own Tales of Symphonia or the sequel…**

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"O-oh, I-I got something!" shrieked Emil as the "fishing poll"; it was actually the oh-so-talented shape-shifting Centurion Tenebrae, started bobbing up and down. The large hole that Genis had melted in the ice was too dark to see what it was; however, it was quite obviously very large. "Help me!"

"You had better not drop me!" growled the poll.

Kratos, who had been standing off the side watching the under-aged Knight of Ratatosk patiently fish, watched in silent amusement as Marta grabbed around Emil's waist, Genis around the girl's, and Raine around her brother's and pulled. Emil squealed as Marta's tightly knotted hands pushed the air from his lungs.

After a few seconds of grunting and tugging, all of which Kratos avoided, opting to keep a shred of dignity, they pulled, from the depths of the pool, a large blue-skinned gold-shelled Archelon. The tortoise-like creature let out an angry bellow, having been dragged from the deep, warm waters onto the cold ice.

Tenebrae was Tenebrae again in a flash, metaphorically speaking as the Centurion of Darkness preferred to "ghost" not "flash", and was shouting out instructions for the creature to be defeated and a pact formed with it.

Emil's eyes darkened to red, and he let out an animal growl and charged toward the Alchelon, sword drawn. Marta, Raine, and Genis all fell back and began chanting, mana tingled in the air. Kratos motioned for the monsters to all move to the frontlines and they followed the elder Knight.

"Raging Heaven!" shouted Emil. Alchelon counted the quick swings of his blade with large, bulky, clawed feet. While Emil was distracting the creature, Kratos slipped behind and lashed out at Alchelon's backside. It roared as green blood oozed from the deep cuts that Kratos' blade left in its hindquarters.

"Form a torrential vortex and engulf the evil spirits…Tidal Wave!" Kratos dragged Sophie and Eon with him as he leapt out of range of Genis' water spell.

As soon as the last of the spell died away, Emil charged back into action, his sword a blur in the weak winter sunlight. He was ramming his sword into Alcheon's water-soaked shell, though there was no give, and Emil did not even acknowledge Marta when she sent a healing spell toward him. Kratos felt a fireball whiz over his head from Genis' direction, and he ducked just enough that his hair did not alight.

Alcheon roared in pain as the fire hit him, its skin burning and sizzling under the heat. Emil took advantage of the monster's distraction to charge forward and slam his sword against its head. Alcheon shuttered and slumped unconscious.

The pact runes formed around it and Emil as the young Knight attempted to bind the monster to his will. Eventually, there was a flash of mana, visible to only those with the ability to feel mana, and Emil turned around, eyes glittering green.

"Her name's Lissy!" Emil chirped.

"…" Kratos sighed at the preposterous notion of the name and the creature it supposedly belonged to.

"_Fantastic!"_ Raine squealed and Emil and Genis both paled. "So that is how Knights make pacts with their monsters? It is absolutely wondrous! Emil, you simply _must_ tell me what those runes mean, what language are they from…?"

The questions went on and on and Genis made an apologetic face to Emil, turned, and whispered softly to Marta, Kratos, and Tenebrae, "I'm really sorry about her, when Raine gets into Ruin mode, there's no stopping here. She's an absolute freak about anything over a hundred years old."

"Yeah, Colette told Emil something about that…" trailed Marta, "I guess we should have taken her more seriously."

Kratos said nothing; he simply watched Raine in disgust as she peppered Emil with questions there was no way he could answer.

While "Lissy", too heavy to carry, was asleep, the humanoid parties debated the best way to distract the monster in the Triet Ruins. Emil, having made a pact with said bait, did not want to actually let the Alcheon be eaten, and Tenebrae agreed.

"She could simply be used as a distraction," he amended, "I could save her if she was in mortal danger."

"Thanks Tenebrae, I wouldn't want Lissy to get hurt." Emil beamed at the Centurion.

"Yes…"

………………

The return trip felt much faster than its predecessor, Emil spent much of his time introducing Lissy to the other monsters and the human, half-elves, and angel that made up the rest of her new "family". Marta hung on Emil's arm and cooed over the new addition. Eventually, she was allowed to ride on the lumbering beast the rest of the way to the Ruins. Even Genis seemed thrilled with the addition, repeatedly expressing his fascination with a Knights' abilities.

When the reacted the Triet Ruins for the second time that day, everyone was sick of sand and snow.

"Finally," painted Genis, "how long do you think that took us?"

"Probably four hours or so…" trailed Raine, "If we want to catch up with Lloyd then we had better hurry."

This time, no one took any notice of the snow-covered ruins or the several sets of footsteps that led the way into the deeper confines of the Ruins, but raced silently into the ruined city. It warmer inside, but dark, and Marta handed Kratos back his coat with a word of thanks. When they reached the Bartek, Tenebrae ghosted to their side.

"I shall take Archelon, Lissy, and we will distract the Bartek. When he is sufficiently distracted, the eleven of you can sneak past."

A sudden wave of panic hit Kratos, and Emil evidently felt it too; Lissy was hardly willing to play bait. Emil turned to comfort her, and Kratos heard the soft words of comfort that Sophie, Nero, and even Eon gave Lissy.

"Are you ready dear?" Tenebrae asked the Archelon kindly. Kratos felt the soft sense of agreement that Lissy gave. The Centurion nodded, "Excellent, then, with your permission Emil, I shall proceed."

"R-right…" Emil had sudden stage fright when asked to take leadership of their odd band of Knights, half-elves, monsters, and Marta. "Is everyone ready?"

Kratos jerked a shoulder in the air to show his approval, Marta smiled encouragingly, and Raine and Genis nodded.

"Alright, Tenebrae, let's do this."

And so, Tenebrae proceeded to lead Lissy toward their goal and her potential death. The creature that could be seen as a towering over them in the dim light that Raine created seemed to be of a burnt rust color. It appeared to be some sort of giant stump, though Kratos believed that he could see it shift and, every so often, inhale. It would be a difficult opponent if Tenebrae and Emil's plan went downhill.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of this was high, too high.

Suddenly, the monster's eyes that had been hidden by what appeared to be large chunks of oddly shaped bark, snapped open. The yellow pools of greed glittered in the light that shown from Raine's mana, they fixed on Lissy hungrily.

The Archelon took off running down a tunnel that was to their right, slipping past the Bartek as huge, gripping hands pulled up from the stone floor, hands that Kratos had taken for roots, and began snaking forward to snatch at her.

"Run! Now!" cried Tenebrae from next to Lissy.

First Genis, then Raine, then Emil reached the far passage and slipped inside. Marta was hot on Emil's heels, when Tenebrae cried out in panic, "No! Archelon not that way!"

Lissy was scrambling toward Marta, who turned to see what was happening and fell. The monster trampled over the girl and she cried out in pain. Kratos, being the last to run, raced forward, but knew that even with angelic speed, there was no way that he could reach the fallen Marta before the Bartek did.

The stump-like creature reached their girl long before Kratos could, and examined this easier pray for a moment. It was enough time for Kratos to cover the distance and plant himself between the monster and Marta.

While Kratos was racing to Marta's rescue, Emil had noticed that his friend was no longer with him and spun to see the Bartek looming down on her. The world was bathed in red as his eyes flashed and it was Ratatosk's roar of rage, not Emil's, which emanated from the blond Knight's mouth.

This caused the Bartek to pause in his newfound interest in Kratos and fix his bleary eyes on the furious Knight. "Hey, Stumpy, get away from her!"

Though the Bartek was obviously not responding to the weak insult, it recognized the challenge in Emil's tone and changed course, toward Emil.

Kratos grabbed Marta's upper arm and pulled her from harm's way in time to save her from being crushed under the monster's excessive bulk. He pulled her along behind the Bartek's back as the two raced toward the far passage, Raine and Genis were both watching in horror. When they reached their destination, they turned in time to see Emil slash at the monster with his blade and the creature to scream in fury. Emil began to laugh maniacally at the beast's pain.

"Emil, Emil, over here!" shouted Marta, "Get away from it!"

Emil's eyes flashed back to green for a moment as he listened to Marta's voice. He turned and looked at her for a moment before they returned to red and he jabbed his sword deep into the creature's mid-section. It roared in pain, and in its distraction, Emil escaped into the passage with the others.

"Marta, you should be more careful!" hissed Emil as he glared at the flustered girl. "I was…" his eyes slid back to green. "W-what was I saying? Oh, right, I was really worried about you!"

"T-thank you for saving me Emil!" Marta seemed as confused as Raine and Genis were at the Knight's sudden change. "I'm sorry…"

"W-well, as long as you're okay…" both teenagers blushed and Kratos mentally rolled his eyes.

"Shouldn't we get going?" asked Genis snidely, obviously wanting to get out of the awkward situation as quickly as possible. "Lloyd's had four extra hours to get through this place, and it's not exactly a walk in the park."

"R-right, yeah, let's go."

Genis and Raine lead the way deeper into the ruins.

………………..

"W-whoa!"

"Lloyd, what are you doing?"

"W-what, what is it?"

Both Emil and Marta looked at the shock that was mirrored in both Raine and Genis' faces. Kratos felt a similar emotion somewhere in the back of his mind. All of the traps, tricks, and passages had been opened. Lloyd had left no stone unturned, no staircase unexplored, nor any monsters left to annoy the little entourage that followed behind him.

Something told Kratos that Lloyd had not done this for his health. He wanted something, or someone, to follow him.

Obviously.

"Lloyd did this?" asked Marta quietly. "Do you think it's a trap?"

"It very well could be," said Raine, though her tone hinted at obvious confusion. "He may also simply want to talk to us…"

"Y-yeah, that must be it!" cried Genis, though his tone hinted at desperation. "That totally seems like something Lloyd would do!"

Professor Sage eyed her brother skeptically. "Oh really Genis? You think that Lloyd would leave a trail of corpses to him?"

"But their just _monster-."_

"Yes, and think about who we are dealing with. Ratatosk is the Lord of Monsters. Some may call this a slaughtering of Ratatosk's children."

Genis seemed to lose his train of thought at Raine's proclamation; a slaughter would be a blatant threat. Rash, blunt, and something that Lloyd would not do. Kratos could not, would not see his son doing anything like this.

"Somehow, I cannot see Lloyden doing such a thing," said Kratos coolly. "If you do not mind my saying, I think you are looking too deeply into this."

"Actually," snapped Raine, "I do mind and-… Wait, what did you just call Lloyd?"

It felt as though the ground dropped from under Kratos' feet; he had slipped again. How was it that he could be so careful for four thousand years, and now, suddenly, so careless? He had spent centuries away from humans. Sometimes decades speechless, and he had never lost his abilities. Now… now he was unable to even convince these people that he was just some man.

Even when they believed that he was thousands of light-years away on Derris Kharlan for an eternity.

"Hey, yeah!" piped Genis, "Only Kratos calls Lloyd "Lloyden"! He doesn't let anyone else do that!"

Despite everything, Kratos felt warmth in his stomach. Lloyd really was hanging on to the few memories that the two of them had together…

"What of it?"

"Well, that must mean you… um… I-I mean… uh…" Genis did not seem to have a suitable answer to Kratos question. Raine's silent brooding seemed to signify that she, too, had no answer to that.

"Are you assuming that I am somehow Lloyd's father?"

There, it was finally out in the open. Kratos was calling them insane for something that was entirely true. Denying the truth, keeping the most obvious secrets in the universe from being discovered, these were all things that Kratos was good at.

"…"

"…"

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" growled Raine. Kratos thought he saw murder flash in her eyes. "Let's just go."

And she, in a rare bout of uncontrolled frustration, stormed off, Genis following his sister close behind.

"Kratos…" said Emil, "You really shouldn't have done that…"

"Yeah, Raine already doesn't like you, now she's really gonna' hate you."

Apparently both Emil and Marta did not like his handling of the situation.

"What was I suppose to do? Ms. Sage will not let the topic drop, nor shall her brother. I had no choice but to openly deny their assumptions."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to outright lie like that!" scoffed Marta. "I simply did not tell the truth."

"I didn't." With that final statement, Kratos followed the silver-haired siblings toward the warp pad that took them deeper into the ruins and to the seal that Cruxis had used for four thousand years.

………………..

It took them but minutes to reach the inner halls of the Temple of Fire. Though Kratos could practically feel the anger that radiated from Raine, but now it was married with worry and fear. She was anxious about meeting the supposed destroyer of Palmacosta, fearing what she would find would be what she feared most.

When they warped into the hall of the seal, where Colette had first gotten her wings, it was exactly as Kratos and Cruxis had left it. The walls covered in writing older than time that spun up and down between the majestic pillars decoratively. They told the story of Efreet and the conquests of the Summon Spirit of Fire and his people. The Cruxis-made alter stood broken in the center of the room.

The only thing that was not the same was the gapping doorway that lead deeper into the chamber. A fallen monster lay at the entrance, signifying that Lloyd had been there.

"Raine, why's it broken?" asked Genis in an undertone, then, louder. "I think Lloyd was here."

"Gee, what makes you think that?" demanded Emil sarcastically. "I never would have guessed."

Kratos and Marta both stared at the usually timid boy. Apparently, Emil had been spending too much time with a bitter, sarcastic Seraph and Centurion.

"The seal must have broken when we released Efreet's seal. I don't think the earthquake could have done that much destruction to the inner rooms without affecting the outer much more. Come, we should go deeper."

They passed through the doorway.

Kratos, even when they were about to face his _son_ would have liked more cover as they were moving in to a potential war-zone. As it was, they had absolutely no cover when they walked into the room. It seemed to take up at least three stories and the ceiling was cave-like. A walkway, much like one Kratos recalled in Mithos' castle on Derris Kharlan, could be reached by following two passages to the right or left and up a flight of stairs.

From their vantage point, they could clearly see Lloyd, and he them, sprawled out on the alter steps; his usual red garments replaced with tight-fitting black shirt and pants and a familiar red jacket; however, it was left unbuttoned. It showed how well toned Lloyd had become in the last few years. In his gloved hands, he lazily tossed…

"That's Ignis' Core!" cried Marta. "Give that to us Lloyd Irving!"

"Tut, tut, you're late. And here I was sure that you'd make it in better time having Kratos, Raine, _and_ Genis plus my little trail helping you out." Lloyd smirked. "But… I win! Better luck next time, mmkay?"

"Lloyd, Lloyd why are you doing this?" cried Genis. "You have to tell us what's going on! Tell them you didn't attack Palmacosta! Please!"

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Genis, you're way too trusting, you'd think by now that you'd have learned not to trust your "friends". Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got things to do."

That was low. Kratos was not sure who this imposter was but he couldn't be Lloyd… could he? Then again, he had the angelic mana signature and only Lloyd could have known about Mithos and Genis… As if he knew what Kratos was thinking, Lloyd leapt into the air and flipped melodramatically landing in a deep bow on the far side of the room. From out of some hidden pocket, he pulled out more of his strange posters.

"Lloyd Irving-Aurion the jewel hunter was here!" Lloyd struck a pose. "Well, I'd love to stay and catch up, but I've got places to go-."

"And cities to destroy!" cried Emil.

"Whatever you wanna' believe, kid. See ya 'round Ladies and Dad."

What was _wrong_ with Lloyd?

"Wait, Lloyd Irving-" Kratos was sure that he heard Lloyd whisper "Aurion" under his breath. "-why are you collecting Centurions' Cores?" demanded Marta.

"We're doing it to save this World, so please, give us Lumen and Ignis!" chimed in Emil.

"So you want to talk?" asked Lloyd coldly, "How do you know that that's now what I'm doing?"

Emil seemed put-off by Lloyd's answer; however, he was back in the conversation in a blink. "I'm not the one destroying cities to get what I want!"

"Whatever you say. Look, if you want to help, then you can hand over whatever Cores you've collected."

"Lloyd," interjected Raine, "what is it that you cannot tell us? Please, let us help you."

"Can't do that and, besides, I've got all the help I need."

Suddenly, a loud bellow echoed through the room and Lloyd spun around in time to dodge out of the way of the Bartek. The monster landed, screaming, where the duel swordsman had been seconds before.

"I think this is my hint to leave. See ya!" And Lloyd was gone.

"Damn, this doesn't look good," growled Emil, already in Ratatosk Mode.

"What was wrong with Lloyd?" whispered Genis.

"Later, that thing is about to attack!"

And the Bartek did just as Kratos claimed it would.

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**Damn, that was fulfilling to write. I laughed the entire time! Sorry, this chapter seemed like it took forever to write, between school, being a little sick, and everything else that's been happening it was a slow write.**

**R&R  
~Yoshi**


	37. In Which Lloyd and Kratos Stalk Emil

**There have been two versions of this chapter, the better, plottier one, the one you're about to read, is obviously the one that I've chosen to post.**

_**Anyway…**_** Within, you shall find EmilxRichter hinting, Lloyd and Kratos bonding, answers to several questions regarding OOCness, old friends, new locations, spying, abandonment, and CHARACTER BUILDING. Fear it.**

**Oh, btw, CommodoreZelda13 has just posted her second fic, **_** Bitter Thoughts,**_** which is actually quite amazing if you like major Lloyd angst. Read and Review and I shall get a cookie for good advertising.**

**Disclaimer: Should I own Tales of Symphonia, Odin and Loki would be in the coliseum.**

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Somehow, and Kratos was not yet sure just how this "somehow" had taken place, Emil, Marta, Kratos, Raine, Genis, Sophie, Tenebrae, Nero, Eon, Valkie, Lissy, Isho, and Lithos were _back _at Hokonisia peak. This being the third time in the past several months that Kratos had found himself here, he was rather sick of it.

Emil and Marta seemed to share his lack of enthusiasm, the monsters had all been sent off to play as Raine and Genis went in to talk to Koton, the reason for their being there being that Raine had heard about some amazingly rare item being held by the stingy pedophile and her wanting to obtain it, and Kratos, Emil, and Marta had been left to their own ends.

They not having any ends to attend to, it more or less left them entirely bored.

Emil had left to amuse himself several minutes ago, and Kratos had again taken up his neglected book on the Journey of Regeneration. Marta was sketching absently in the corner of the small inn room that Kratos and Emil shared. She having come in to attempt to relieve her boredom with company.

Kratos, who was every-so-often chuckling at his text, seemed to be irritating her. She and Emil had never understood that all that they took for the facts of the Regeneration Journey were hideously morphed from the original.

Marta opened her mouth, apparently about to relieve her boredom by pestering her guardian, when Emil burst into the room looking irritated.

"Are Raine and Genis back yet?" he demanded.

Kratos shrugged and Marta shook her head.

"Nope, they-."

Then, again, the door burst open and Raine and Genis entered.

"Oh, good you're here!" Emil seemed extremely relieved. "Let's go to Asgard, I want to see how they're recovering."

……………….

Kratos' hometown seemed to be recovering from its traumatizing windstorms, however, they were immediately ambushed by an over-excited, obviously acting, Mayor of Asgard. The grey-haired man was avidly insisting that Marta and Raine perform on the Stone Dias to increase the tourism at Asgard's grand reopening.

Normally, Kratos would not have found this particularly strange, however, when the Mayor and Emil exchanged a whispered conversation and Emil set off for the inn, Kratos felt suspicions rising.

Tenebrae went with Emil, and Genis followed Raine, Marta, and the Mayor, leaving Kratos on his own again. This was the first time that Kratos had been entirely on his own in weeks.

He felt the relaxation of the quiet settle around him for a moment, and was almost tempted to let Emil's suspicious activities slide, until, that is, a hissed voice beckoned from the shadows.

Kratos felt the eyes boring into his back before he heard the voice. He spun around, hand on the hilt of his sword, when the familiar form of Lloyd stepped from the shadows.

"Calm down, Dad, it's just me." A small smirk graced Lloyd's face.

Kratos did not relax. "Lloyden, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you. That Richter dude's here. Did ya' know? I think Emil's going to see him. Don't know what they're doing, but I thought you might want to know."

Kratos relaxed his grip on his sword and sighed at Lloyd. "Lloyd, how do you expect me to trust you when you act as you did in the Temple?"

"Huh," Lloyd seemed genuinely fascinated by whatever thought had entered his head. "I never would have thought that our places would be reversed. You being on the "good guy's" side, and me the traitor."

"Lloyden, I do not believe you are a traitor, however, as of right now, I do not know what you are doing. I rarely trust anyone, so this should-."

"-Come as no surprise, I know. What if I apologize and explain a little bit, will you follow Emil and Richter with me? A little father-son spying? I bet you could teach me a ton more that Yuan, he kinda sucks at the whole sneaking thing."

Kratos could not help but be amused by what Lloyd was saying, it was, in fact, true that Yuan had never been a subtle person. The sneaking and spy-work had always been left to the Seraph who did not open his mouth as much.

"What kind of father would I be if I did not give you another chance?"

Lloyd smiled at the rhetorical question.

………………

"So, Yuan and I had a bet going that I couldn't shake you guys off in under five minutes, and I totally kicked his ass!" Lloyd smiled the usual Lloydish, idiotic smile. "That, and what with Raine and Genis being two of my oldest friends, I know them, and they know me, well enough to be able to tell that I'm lying though me teeth half the time. I had to totally throw you guys off. And I got the Core, so it's all good."

"What do you need the Core for, anyway, Lloyden?"

Kratos followed Lloyd though the side streets after Richter and Emil, the group of four, which included Tenebrae and Aqua, seemed to be heading to Aisha's house.

"I'm not supposed to say, technically, but I'll let you in on the secret, Martel told me to. You know about the kid being Ratatosk, right?" Lloyd waited until Kratos nodded before continuing, "Well, it turns out that Ratatosk kinda' went insane when he woke up. Three guesses who's fault that is."

Kratos flinched, so Ratatosk, as well, had lost his faith in the people because of Mithos, Yuan and he.

"Yeah, well, we need to stop Ratatosk from coming to full power before we can intervene. So I'm grabbing as many Cores as I can before Marta can hatch them. Once we talk to Ratatosk and get him to _not_ destroy the human race, then he can do whatever he wants with the Centurions."

Everything that Lloyd said made sense, the only thing that did not was why Lloyd was not letting his friends in on what was happening. He voiced his inquiry.

"Oh, well, see, if Ratatosk learns the name of the tree he can take over it. If he gets full control of the mana, Martel will die and then the tree will wither again. And if any of the others touched a Core they'd lose their minds. You and I can touch them because we have protection. You from Ratatosk and me from Martel."

"Should I be concerned about how conniving you have become, Lloyd, here I thought you were such a pure child."

"You corrupted that a long time ago." Though Lloyd jested, Kratos felt a lump rise in his throat. The teenager did not seem to notice his father's discomfort. "They're here, can you hear what they're saying?"

"-need to find a way to the Balacruf Mausoleum." That was Richter's voice.

"Well, the actual structure was destroyed when that Giant Tree attacked the World. I'm not sure of another entrance…" Linear sighed quietly, "I'm sorry I can't help you."

"Wait, Colette said that the ruins under the Stone Dias looked a lot like the Balacruf place, do you think that there'd be a way through from under there?" Emil seemed to have the right idea, because Linear pondered the statement for a long moment before responding.

"I suppose that is possible, the Balacruf people liked to make everything maze-like and intertwining. And before the ancient war they would have had the technology to do something like that. Pads for mana breakdown and rebuilding, etc. It would be worth a look around if you were desperate."

"Fine, thank you for your help. Emil, let's go."

"Yeah, bye guys!" Kratos could picture little naïve Emil waving sweetly to Linear and Aisha as he followed the Vanguard bastard.

"Wait, Emil, about that guy, he's…" Harley's voice joined with the other three that they had heard. The man's voice brought back memories of the Stone Dias and a bomb meant to destroy it and save Aisha, and the two boys that had been dumb enough to attempt it.

Lloyd seemed to be thinking the same that Kratos was. This city held so many memories.

"Emil that's guy's a… oh, never mind," Harley finished lamely. "Be careful kid."

"Uh, okay, thanks!"

As soon as the door closed, Harley whispered, "That guy's a half-elf."

So, Harley felt it too.

"Dad," murmured Lloyd, "Did you know he was a half-elf?"

"Yes." Kratos had known for some time. "Finding the mana signatures of half-elves has become second nature after all these years."

"O-oh, right…" Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck, thinking he had brought up a sore spot with this father. "'Cause you're… right, yeah, shutting up now."

Kratos said nothing, but watched Lloyd's display with an air of amusement; how in the world could Lloyd have forgotten everything for even a second…? Sometimes it was sad, and sometimes it was one of the things that made Lloyd, Lloyd. Kratos was Dad to Lloyd, not the "traitor", not the "Seraph", not even "Kratos Aurion", he was Dad, and that was much more then Kratos could have ever asked for.

When Lloyd noticed his father's reaction, he immediately got defensive. "H-hey, what's so funny?! I apologized!"

"Lloyden… do not concern yourself; it was just a minor amusement."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean! I thought you weren't going to be cryptic anymore!"

"Now the only question remains, is if you understood what I said, I did use some rather long terminology."

"Term-ology?"

For some reason, Kratos found this infinitely funny.

………………

Emil, Richter, Aqua, all of Emil's monsters, and Tenebrae all stood on the Stone Dias, waiting for Tenebrae and Aqua to stop squabbling like an old married couple, and open the entrance to the Dias. Apparently, someone pointed out the simile, because both Centurions seemed to cry out a denial at the same moment and _finally_ shut their mouths to do their job.

The wide, glittering portal opened, and first Richter, then Emil, followed by the monsters and Centurions entered. The warp stayed open.

"Let's go!" Lloyd began to take off from behind the pillar that they were hidden behind.

"Lloyden, would it not be in our best interest to wait until they have distanced themselves from the warp? It is far too easy to blow one's cover when one is not thinking."

"Right. Got it, taking lessons from Dad. Hey, it's just like the old days! When we were back on the Journey through Sylvarant. Back when things were less complicated."

"Indeed," Kratos sighed. "I feel as though it is my mistake; taking away the simplicity in your life…"

"Don't you dare think about beating yourself up over that; it would have happened eventually, at least it was you and not someone else, right?"

"Is that what you think?" Kratos stood to move toward the warp, not wanting their targets to get too far. "Lloyden, you truly are too idealistic."

"Whatever you say Dad."

When they arrived in the passage under the Stone Dias, both men automatically moved to the side of the passage, however, there was no need for their precaution for the long tunnel was void of life.

"Which way did they…?" Lloyd's open-ended question was answered with the grinding sound of stone on stone. The underground structure seemed to shake with the force of whatever it was that had just happened.

"Richter!" Kratos could hear Emil's high voice echoing in the tomb's passages. "I think it worked, you're so smart!"

"Humph, let's just go."

"He's such a chatterbox," muttered Lloyd darkly, "I don't think I like this guy too much."

"Agreed."

Kratos lead the way into a side passage because, though it was a straight shot down the passage that Lloyd and himself occupied at present, Emil and Richter would be entering it soon enough, and the last think Kratos wanted was to be caught spying so soon in the game.

"Come Lloyd."

"Right, coming!" When they were safely tucked away in one of the hundreds of side-passages that made up the body of the ruin, Lloyd voiced a question that had been on his mind for some time; "So, Dad, you remember when I was a Chimera… thingy?" he was hesitant to ask his father, "Do… Do you know how that happened?"

This was a question that Lloyd had been wondering since he had woken up in as a new being some months ago. Kratos had been hoping that Lloyd had the answer to the question as he, himself, had been unsuccessful in acquiring the answer.

"Unfortunately, no, I was rather hoping that you, with your furthered contacts, would have the answer."

"Oh, damn, no I got nothing, even with Yuan… and I haven't actually talked to Goddess Martel for awhile, so…"

"I see. Let's go." Without further ado, Kratos slipped from their hiding place and sprinted down the passage toward the newly formed doors and the far end of the passage. Lloyd was hot on his heels. They hit the warp at full-speed. The process of being transferred halfway across a continent did not stop their momentum, and both angels reentered the world in a flurry of light and color as they barreled out of the hidden warp and Lloyd hit the ground with an ungraceful splat, while his father landed cat-like on the soft, green grass.

As Lloyd stood, he proclaimed dizzily, "Remind me to never-ever-_ever_ do that again."

"Odd, I thought you would enjoy the thrill, Yuan and I used to have races around Derris Kharlan flying, running, and warp-jumping."

"Back before the Martel thing?"

"Actually, she would yell at us because Mithos would try to follow us and usually ended up with something broken."

"That sounds absolutely brilliant!"

Kratos smirked, and then looked around again. He had been scoping the area for potential threats though their conversation, however, taking a second… or third look around could not hurt.

They were, as Emil and Richter had wished, at the Balacruf Mausoleum. The destroyed remains of it, anyway. The door, with the key they had obtained from the Wind Master was crushed under several tons of fallen rock, and half of the original entrance had caved in. They were standing in a part of the wreckage looking around at the fallen ruins.

A small, but sprawling, plane reached between their location and a broken wall that Emil and Richter had, obviously, gone. Why obviously? Because the hole had been made by a recent fire spell, so recent, in fact, the edges were still smoking.

Richter, Kratos had a very strong feeling, was never, was not, and would never be, as subtle person.

"I think they went that way." Lloyd pointed to where Kratos was looking. The angel eyed his son skeptically.

"What gives you that idea?"

"W-well, there's freaking _smoke_ coming from it and… You're being sarcastic again, aren't you?"

"Come, Lloyden, we don't want to lose them."

"Cryptic, sarcastic, and avoiding questions; it's like we really are back in Sylvarant for the first time…"

Kratos pretended not to hear his son as he progressed toward the smoking hole. Lloyd raced after his father, noticing that he was halfway there before Lloyd had finished his sentence.

The Balacruf Mausoleum was, eerily, as they had left it when last there. The ancient script scrawled along the walls and floor telling age-old stories. The traps that had nearly caught Lloyd and the others of the Regeneration Group still silently struck from the walls, ceiling, and floor. The hole had been blasted straight into the inner sanctum of the tomb. The Giant Tree had not touched this area, and it was still pristine.

With the exception of the large, smoking hole in the wall behind them.

"Rata- er… Emil didn't make that hole, did he?" Lloyd whispered the question.

"No, that would have been Richter."

"Okay, good, because I'm gonna' have to kick his ass for destroying the priceless ruins. Or at least for Raine's sake."

"Just out of a morbid curiosity, when did…?" Kratos, unwilling to say what he was actually thinking for fear of it not being able to actually come out of his mouth.

"We traveled together for a while. That's pretty much it; I knew I liked her. She realized that I did. It just happened."

Kratos sighed, but kept walking to avoid glaring at anything for too long, lest it, as Yuan always put it, "burst into flames".

"Oh, come on, Dad, you may be my father, but I'm technically nineteen! That counts as an adult."

"Hush."

"No, Dad, you have to-!"

"Hush, I can hear them, and our voices echo in here."

Lloyd shut up, now he could hear their voices as well.

"Where do you think it is?"

"I don't know. Probably further in, I'm only an expert in Tethe'allen temples, however, common sense dictates we go further in if we want the treasure."

"What is this "treasure" again?"

"The Balacruf Tombstone."

"_What's that?"_ Lloyd mouthed.

"A rare stone that Cleo III is buried under," Kratos' whisper was almost unheard.

"And why do you need it?" Emil asked the question that was on both angels' minds.

"I told you Emil, I have to trade it to Koton for the Spiritual Tome."

So that was why he was there; he was trying to trade with Koton. Kratos wished him luck.

"The Spiritual Tome?"

"It is similar to the Book of Spiritua. It holds an account, a vague account, of Cruxis crystals. Nothing that is not known to the Sybak Research Academy. We were very careful about what we actually allowed to be passed around as artifacts after the Spriritua journey. We had to make sure that there were no accounts of Yuan or myself. Most of the detailed descriptions are being held in the Cruxis archives."

"But why would Richter want it?"

"That is a good question. He is supposed to be with the Vanguard, trying to take Ratatosk's Core from Marta."

"Hey, Richter, can we take a break, I'm tired."

There was a sigh, "Emil, I would really like to get back _today."_

"It won't take too long! Please, the monsters are getting tired!"

There was a long pause as Richter supposedly debated with himself, finally, his merciful side won out.

"Fine, a few minutes."

"Dad, let's see if we can't get closer."

Kratos glanced over at his son. Lloyd already had his wings out; the large, bird-like appendages were… not there. They had been replaced with sky-blue Seraph wings.

"How…?"

"Oh, I found out I can change the way wings look if I concentrate really, really hard. I guess it's part of the appearance and growth-changing thing."

It made sense, Kratos had just always been… rather affectionate of his wings and never found a reason to change them.

Lloyd continued, "I figured my normal wings wouldn't be very useful in here, they're too big."

"Logical."

And the two angels took off.

There were platforms that jutted from the walls and overlooked the lower floors. They had been used to hold decorative pottery or other rare treasures that had been looted centuries beforehand. There was more than enough room for both men to land and look down on the pair below.

What Kratos saw truly made him debate Emil's preferences.

The blond Knight was leaned up against Richter, his head resting on the older man's shoulders. They were watching the monsters sleep or wander the area. Richter was unmoving, though Kratos recognized the posture of one who was looking for dangers.

Lloyd made soft gagging sounds. "Gods, it's like seeing Genis and Mithos together!"

Kratos, who had never seen the two boys together while they were on good terms, did not appreciate the mental image.

"Emil, do you feel like you are being watched?" Richter asked, eyeing their surroundings.

"Uh… no?"

"Humph."

"S-sorry. Am I being stupid again?"

"Don't apologize! And no, I must simply be too paranoid."

"I'll say…" muttered Lloyd.

When Kratos eyed his son, Lloyd rolled his eyes.

"What? We're doing a good job spying!"

………………

With Lloyd and Kratos now tailing them closely, Emil and Richter made their way deeper into the temple. Breaking the puzzles that had, somehow, reset since the Chosen's group had broken them two years ago. When they reached the room that opened to the Seal of Wind, instead of taking the door to the roof, Richter examined the blue windmill and, after a moment, it glowed and began to sink into the floor.

Richter grabbed Emil and the two males sunk into the floor below.

"Damn, I didn't even know that was there!" Lloyd was in shock.

Kratos shrugged. "It was not of any importance. That way leads into the inner tomb, useless unless you are a grave-robber."

"Yeah, but Raine would have loved it!"

"You _want_ to offer her something to "Ruin Mode" over?"

"Point taken," Lloyd grumbled resentfully.

The angels crouched over the hold that had been left by the elevator. They looked down into the tomb.

It was enormous; it must have sprawled under the entire structure. In addition, the ceiling was hundreds of feet above the stone floor. It was dizzying. From where they were, Kratos and Lloyd could see Emil and Richter moving around, searching for their prize.

"H-hey, Richter, is this it?" Emil called

"It… Emil, don't touch that!"

Kratos fought his instinct to jump down and protect the Ratatosk spirit, however, Richter beat him to it. The half-elf jumped in front of Emil and slammed his blade into the approaching bird monster. Emil's eyes glittered red as his sword met the next on-coming monster.

"Watch it!"

"That's what I should be telling you."

The two seemed to have it covered.

The way back was uneventful. Lloyd and Kratos spoke little as they followed Emil and Richter back though the ruins, to the Stone Dias where Richter and Aqua parted ways, leaving Emil, Tenebrae, and the monsters standing on the Stone Dias.

"Emil," the Centurion spoke, "I would not mention a word of this to the others."

"I… yeah, Richter is with the Vanguard and… yeah."

"Correct."

………………

Emil and Richter's parting was not quite so difficult as Lloyd and Kratos'. As he had to return to the group, who would have noticed his absence by now, Kratos gave his son a half-smile as he prepared to leave. Lloyd was not so refined.

"Bye Dad, be careful." Lloyd threw his arms around the elder man's neck. Kratos, surprise written on his face, braced his son's weight and, though hesitantly, wrapped his arms around Lloyd.

"Don't die Lloyd."

"Hasn't happened yet!" And Lloyd was gone.

……………….

"Kratos, where were you?!" cried Marta, "We've been looking everywhere for you."

Though she was trying to look angry, Marta was obviously in a good mood.

"I apologize. I became caught up in some business and did not realize the time."

"It's alright." Emil, who had his arm, shockingly, around Marta's shoulders, smiled at Kratos. "I was busy too."

"Yeah, and you left Raine, Genis, and I to plan Asgard's grand reopening!"

"Well, at least you were able to help." Emil's smile seemed to brighten. "Now, if we can just get the rest of the Cores, we can stop more places from suffering like Asgard! And then I can revenge my parents."

The Knight's eyes darkened and flashed to red. Kratos felt unease rise in this throat; what was this Summon Spirit-turned-boy and why did he have a growing sense of unease?

All questions would be answered in time.

He just hoped it would not be too late.

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**I love father/son fluff. It's the best kind out there.**

**No, I do not plan on making Emil/Richter into a real pairing, I just swear the two of them are gay together half the time.**

**Sorry, I've been majorly late. What with homecoming/homework/other random shit. So I haven't had a ton of time.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	38. In Which an Important Decision is Made

**Hallo**

**I know last chappie was kinda filler-y, but it actually had some plot importance, though it was mostly put in for bonding and Kratos finding out more about Lloyd's plans.**

**Within you shall find… Tenebrae, lies, monsters, explanations, a heated debate, and somebody had decided they are done taking crap. No more secrets. Sort of.**

**Disclaimer: Should I own Tales of Symphonia, which I don't, Yuan and Botta would have plushies that you could purchase. All funds would go to the Renegades for better Desian outfits.**

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It was some time, when the group had made it to the Triet continent and back to the now melting desert, before Kratos was able to get Tenebrae on his own and interrogate him about the events that he and Lloyd had witnessed in the Balacruf Mausoleum.

The Centurion had allowed Emil to escort Richter on some sort of treasure hunt that could easily have gotten him killed. Kratos was not entirely sure what the darkness incarnate was playing at, however, the idea of Tenebrae putting Ratatosk directly in harm's way seemed almost unheard of, as Tenebrae had always been one of the more loyal of the Centurions.

They exasperatingly large group, now including Emil, Marta, Kratos, Raine, Genis, Tenebrae, Sophie, Nero, Eon, Lissy, Valkie, Isho, and Lithos, was staying the night at the Triet inn in preparation of crossing the remains of the Ossa Trail the next day and making their way to Izoold and, eventually, Flanoir. Kratos was sitting in the room he shared with Emil. Emil having gone shopping with Marta and his four "pets" for their dinner and the food for the next few days and not being present, it was the perfect time to speak to Tenebrae.

Eon was curled up on Kratos' bed, asleep; Nero was floating in the vague way that only she could; obviously seeing everything but taking nothing in. Sophie was resting against the side of the chair that Kratos was seated in, also asleep. It was peaceful.

Kratos was about to change that for the worst.

"Tenebrae, come here."

Kratos felt foolish for a moment when the Centurion did not immediately appear; it seemed as though he was talking to the air. Then there came the soft sigh of matter and mana adjusting to fill, and make room for, the appearance of Tenebrae.

"Yes, my good Seraph, what can I do for you?"

Kratos, as always, felt bile rise in his throat when his old title was brought up; especially when around, or by, one of the creatures he, Yuan, and Mithos had betrayed.

"Tenebrae, I do not suppose you could explain what Emil and yourself did in Asgard that required your disappearance for greater part of the day?" There really was no point in trying to avoid directly asking; Tenebrae would never willingly admit to any sort of fault of his.

The Centurion seemed almost to blush at Kratos' implied accusation.

"We… well, from the way you speak, you seem to already have the information that you requested. What is it that you really want to know?"

"Tenebrae, if Ratatosk is, in fact, Emil, then putting him in direct contact with those whom are attempting to destroy or obtain the Core is a… shall we put it _miscalculated_ move. What were you thinking?"

Kratos kept his voice even; a direct accusation was necessary, however, provoking a fight was unnecessary.

"Yes, when you… put it like that, I suppose it does sound rather foolhardy." The Centurion sighed, "However, it was what Emil wanted. I could hardly deny him his wishes without creating some suspicion. Richter does not know that Emil is Ratatosk anymore then Emil himself does. There was little danger, and I was there to oversee the events."

"Although I disagree, there is nothing that can be done now, though I would suggest not letting it happen again."

Tenebrae looked half-angry, half-amused. "Kratos, is that a threat?"

"A suggestion. I do not want Ratatosk to be… injured. Nor do I wish harm on Emil. You threaten both personas when you allowed Emil to become so attached to Richter."

"I will, of course, take your suggestions into consideration."

"I have another question, if you would be willing to explain… what exactly Lord Ratatosk was thinking creating an alter-ego as such in order to regain the power lost during the ancient war. After all the help and hassle I am going though, it is the least you can do to explain this to me."

The Centurion looked-there truly was no other word for it-_sheepish._ He was obviously hesitant on sharing the requested information. Especially with someone who would comprehend it so easily. Kratos became more anxious to hear.

"…When Lord Ratatosk was awakened, it was by Richter and a friend of his called Aster. They went to the Ginnungagap in order to request that Lord Ratatosk use his powers to fix the strange weather patterns around the world.

"Lord Ratatosk became angry, mostly with Mithos and yourself, and commanded we Centurions to awaken and destroy the world. Aster and Richter both cried out for Lord Ratatosk to stop, however, my Lord attacked Aster and killed him. Then, Richter went insane. He attacked and defeated Lord Ratatosk in his weakened state, and put him in Core form.

"Richter could not understand how the Core form worked, but the traitor Aqua told him to destroy the Core in order to destroy Lord Ratatosk. I was able to awaken and save Lord Ratatosk and bring him to the surface world. Then, the Vanguard began to seek the Core of my Lord. I was… unable to protect it, and it was stolen by the Vanguard.

"Thankfully, Lady Marta was beginning to have her faith in her father shaken, and she stole the Core again and ran away. I was able to help her escape; however, in Palmacosta she was nearly caught. Had Lord Ratatosk not appeared out of the Core while the Vanguard disappeared, both would have been killed. He appeared in the form of Aster. I believe that Emil's appearance is proof of Lord Ratatosk's regret in killing Aster; however, I have not been given any other orders regarding the life span of the World's population.

"For now, I shall do nothing, however, if the order is given, I will have no choice. My loyalty lies with my Lord."

It was with a bout of realization that Kratos took in the information that Tenebrae presented him with. The Centurion of Darkness obviously was not in total agreement with Ratatosk. Nevertheless, he would have no choice but to listen to the insane spirit if the order was given to destroy humanity. Thinking over this reality, Kratos could do nothing but think of Lloyd.

His son knew more, under the circumstances, then Kratos, himself, did, but there was the question of whether or not Lloyd and Yuan, as well as Martel, was aware of Ratatosk's supposed goal. More importantly, how Kratos was going to save his friends if Ratatosk did indeed attempt to rid himself of humanity.

Another question was that of Kratos' continued loyalty to the Summon Sprit. Could he continue to work for something that planned to eventually obliterate everything that Kratos' held dear, including, though the thought shook the Seraph to the core, Lloyd? Four thousand years had taught Kratos that it was indeed true that to keep your friends close and your enemies closer was an intelligent decision.

Then again, he was getting himself more twisted in this mess then he had with Mithos and Yuan. Somehow, in a matter of months, Kratos had gotten himself completely entangled with these people; wanted by the Vanguard, hated by the majority of the population of Luin, a Knight with monster pacts to boot. Part of him, a very large and influential part, was ready to give this up. There were other ways to help; Kratos had proven that on the last journey.

Wordlessly, Kratos rose, made his way over to the bed where his still-full pacts sat. He gathered his few possessions into his arms, feeling the bulk of bits of long-lasting foods, his extra clothing, knives and other weapons, and the other odd bits that he had acquired though the months.

Tenebrae, whose paws were, for once, on the ground, watched the man with an air of expectancy, of worry, and of disconcertment. He did not know what Kratos was planning, however, he was waiting for the angel to say something, _anything,_ and for a few long moments, he was disappointed.

After several minutes of checking his packs for all the things that he would and would not need and the things that he would leave. He finally emerged with only one small bag that held his clothing, Yuan's cape which he had somehow forgotten about since returning from Derris Kharlan, a few bits of foodstuffs, a few of his knives and an extra blade, and a map of the new world.

He had never gotten his bearings straight in this world. The continents had not moved greatly but, as Mithos has often put it, humans were like little animals, not thinking past the now and moving constantly.

"I have made a decision," declared the Seraph. "I'm leaving."

Whatever Tenebrae had been expecting of Kratos, it was most defiantly _not_ this.

"P-pardon? Did you just claim that you are leaving?" The declaration even caused the usually smooth Centurion to stutter. "You cannot just walk out!"

Kratos rose an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh, and may I enquire what it is that is stopping me? I hold no binding pact with Ratatosk, nor would I break the terms that we lay down at the pact making. I believe that the vow was that I would not use his abilities for anything but the betterment of the world. I am not breaking that vow."

"You certainly do know how to leave yourself loopholes, Master Aurion. And what shall I tell Emil and Marta. If you do not mind my saying, they need you."

Tenebrae was trying to guilt Kratos into staying so that the Centurion could keep a better eye on the Seraph. Kratos could hardly blame him; he had, after all, practically gotten the world destroyed, and he now knew more about Ratatosk's weaknesses than any other creature, other than Tenebrae himself, on the planet.

Tenebrae had put himself in a very bad position.

"Tell them what you wish," snapped the angel. "I suppose I shall see you sometime in the near future."

And it was with no further ado that Kratos exited the adobe and brick building into the now scorching Triet sands. He walked with a brisk pace yet he did not run, unwilling to draw attention to himself. The winds blew past him, gently brushing his bangs from their vision-obscuring position in front of his eyes.

_What am I doing?_

Kratos had betrayed his friends enough times that, by this point in his life, one would have not thought that the stomach-flip that occurred every time he dwelled on the reality of the impacts that his decision was having on Emil and Marta. He could care less about Raine, Genis, Tenebrae, or Ratatosk himself; however, Emil and Marta were essentially children. There had been many lesser beings that had faced cruel reality at much younger ages. Somehow, it still seemed like a heartless thing to do.

Thoughts of where he would go, what he would do, and the like were contemplated in place of guilt as Kratos strode toward Triet's main gate and the gold-struck desert.

Yuan was supposed to be guarding Martel and the Tree; perhaps that was where he could find answers. He had a map, finding the old location of the Tower of Salvation could not be too difficult. He mulled over his options as he wandered the outer mazes of tents and shops that encircled the inner city. Shopkeepers were either closing up for the night or trying to sell the last of their wares for the day before bed.

In the loud shouts of men, braying of animals, and bargaining, Kratos allowed himself to become absorbed in what was happening around him. He simply moved. He had no presence as he navigated the crowds, sliding in and out of groups of people before they realized he was there. Evading pushy salespersons, Kratos was surprised when he heard his name called.

"Kratos! Kratos, what are you doing here? Kratos!" The ancient Seraph was surprised, and horrified, to see Emil and Marta, the very people he was trying his best not to think about, gracelessly shoving their way through the congested streets toward them.

"Kratos, hey, what's up? What are you doing out here? I thought you were staying at the inn…" Emil smiled at his elder to which Kratos sighed softly, debating his options. He could not lie to the children at this point, yet he did not want to cause a scene in the middle of Triet's marketplace. Walking away was out of the question; they would pursue him no matter what.

"I am taking a walk."

An uncreative and unconvincing lie; his tone remained monotone, but they had no reason to yet to mistrust him. He was not yet their known enemy. Too soon though, they would not be able to place him in any other category. He was going to join their proclaimed enemy, Lloyd, shamelessly betraying his friends… again.

Kratos could not meet their innocently skeptical eyes.

"Isn't it kind of late to be taking a walk? It gets cold here at night." So innocent, they were worrying about his health. Angels could not feel heat and cold.

"I must go."

"B-but, wait, Kratos, where are you going?" Marta seemed surprised, "Why don't you come back with us?"

"Do not wait up."

Kratos turned and allowed himself to be swallowed by the crowd. For a few seconds, he listened as someone, supposedly Marta, attempted to follow him. He could hear Emil telling her to leave him be, obviously something was bothering him. They slipped out of his hearing range as he moved on, but he could imagine Marta retorting that that was exactly why they had to follow him.

Then Emil would point out that he obviously wanted to be alone and he could take care of himself. He would console her and lead her back to the inn where Tenebrae would tell them lies of how Kratos had decided that he no longer thought he could help them. That it did not surprise Tenebrae, he had known all along that Kratos could not be trusted. That Kratos had abandoned them.

The trusting children would deny it, saying he would change his mind and burst in, apologizing for everything. Raine and Genis would, not knowing him, suspect something. Kratos had no idea, and did not really care, what the half-elves thought of him.

And Emil and Marta would never get what they wanted. He would never burst in begging for an apology. He could not when, though regrettable, he was saving his son.

Regret. All the regret in the world seemed to fill the void that was where Kratos heart had once been. Only Lloyd and Anna had been able to fill even part of that void, but he had never let them past, further into his dark soul, lest it swallow them as well. They were both so open, so perfect, like bright stars in the empty night sky. He would never allow them to get too deep.

Where once he had thought he had replaced some of that darkness with light, he now found that he was back to his old ways; untrusting and never gaining the trust of others in return. And, though no one would ever know, it hurt him so much, burned white-hot though what was left of his soul, to betray them on a whim. Ratatosk and Tenebrae were one thing. Emil and Marta were another entirely.

He just hoped that they would be taken care of.

"_W-wait, Master Kratos, please wait!"_

"_Oy, LK, there is no way you're leaving without us!"_

"_Come on, don't leave us with them! Wait up!"_

"_Master Kratos!"_

To his astonishment, the voices of his monster, Sophie, Nero, and even Eon, echoed though the emptying streets and cut across his self-hatred. He turned to witness the odd sight of Nero floating along at a fast pace with Sophie running just behind her and Eon bouncing faster than Kratos could possibly imagine him every having bounced before toward him.

Kratos stopped in his tracks, allowing the odd parade to catch up.

Eon, who was in the back, let out a loud cry as he bounced high into the air and, much to the complete shock of the entire group, began to glow white as Nero and Sophie had both done, and his shape enlarged and transformed. Nonexistent limbs formed from his rounded chest, his tail split and grew, creating back legs, and strange spiky protrusions extended from the crown of his head.

"_Dude, he's… evolving!"_ Nero's shock was mirrored by both Kratos and Sophie.

When Eon landed again, it was on strong, webbed feet. His light blue color had deepened to that of a deep, icy blue. The spiked protrusions were a light purple and they dripped of poison. Eon himself looked greatly surprised. Apparently he had not been expecting the transformation, so, when it happened, it took him completely by surprise.

"I believe that that is an… Oannes. What an odd timing Eon." Kratos covered himself quickly, though, honestly, he could not help but be pleased with Eon. "I believe congratulations are in order."

"_Wow, Eon, you skipped two whole evolutions!"_ trilled Sophie, _"Congratulations!"_

"_Heh, even I have to admit, that's pretty damn cool, toad."_

"'_Frog' thank-you very much! I am now to be called 'Frog'."_ Despite his surprise, Eon was playing it very, very cool.

"Truly, congratulations Eon, however, shouldn't the three of you be getting _back_ to the inn?"

"_Oh, _hell_ no. There is no way that you're leaving without us," _snapped Nero. _"Eon even evolved so we could go with you. We refuse to be abandoned."_

"_Master Kratos, you can't leave us. We don't want to stay with Lord Tenebrae and the others. We're _your_ monsters. We want to come with you."_

"I believe it would be best for you to be around a Centurion. Besides, I have to fly to get where I am going, I cannot carry the three of you…"

"_I can fly!"_ hissed Nero. _"I'll carry Sophie, all you have to do is carry the Toad!"_

"_We will not be left behind."_

"_You said it Sophie!"_

Even Eon was in complete agreement with his female counterparts. For the first time all evening, Kratos felt warmth bubbling in the pit of his stomach; perhaps he did have someone on his side after all.

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**Shorter chapter, but I filled it with crap, and the word count is still my average, so be happy. Life's been insane; but what can you do? **

**Another note on Monster Evolution: Skipped a few steps on the Polywiggle evolutionary line. Decided that Kratos is too manly for a Grindylow or a Bullfrog so I just jumped him ahead two evolutions. Just be happy he's not so pissy now.**

**Anywho, R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	39. In Which Life Begins

**Chapter 39.**

**I'm trying something new with this chapter, it's going to be a combination present and past-tense. Everything **_**italicized**_** is past and normal text is present. Just something I want to try to bridge a bit of a time-gap.**

**Lots of Lloyd/Yuan/Kratos/Martel/monster bonding. A new character introduced, and a little insight on everyone. Written to the new Three Days Grace CD: **_**Life Starts Now.**_** Consider it the theme of the last two chapters.**

**Disclaimer: What with the way this fic is going, I highly doubt anyone could even **_**dream**_** of claiming that I own Tales of Symphonia.**

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"Dad, Uncle Yuan, I'm home!" Lloyd's voice called into the confines of the little cottage that Yuan, and now Kratos, had been inhabiting as of late. The wood paneled building always reminded Lloyd of his old room back at Dirk's. Yuan seemed to enjoy having excessive plant life on his upper floors while the lower was filled with beeping, tinkling, and flashing machines that monitored mana flows and other important data.

Moreover, there was the stuff that Yuan enjoyed playing with.

Ever since Kratos had flown to the tree, and therefore Yuan's home, Lloyd had been making regular visits to see his father and uncle. Both of whom were, at the present moment, playing cards at Yuan's circular dining room table.

Both angels sat across from one-another, cards in hand with a large pile of "booty" in-between them. Their eyes trained on their own set; they sat silently. The monsters, Sophie, Nero, and Eon, all sat around, watching quietly. Nero floating on Kratos' side whilst Eon joined Yuan by his hand, and Sophie sat on Martel's lap.

The Spirit of the Giant Tree sat at the end of the table, her hand stroking Sophie's large top bloom while she intently watched for signs of cheating from either of the angels. Kratos, having been caught using Eon as a spy, was now her biggest concern. Martel's spring-green eyes surveyed the game with a relaxed-yet-alert air. The Spirit was so much like her namesake that Yuan sometimes forgot that she was not his beloved fiancée.

Not that the Spirit necessarily minded his lapse in memory.

The Keeper of the Tree had the memories of everyone, human, elf, half-elf, and the like, that had been sacrificed for the final reincarnation of the Giant Tree. She knew all that had transpired in the quest to bring her to life and she would never forsake those who had been lost to the final goal. This did not mean, however, that she did not enjoy the breaks and time that was spent with Yuan, Lloyd, and any else who ventured to the sight of the fallen Tower of Salvation.

Her favorite amusements were the Seraphim that she had heard so much about for so many of the souls that encompassed her. Watching their bantering gave new life to the otherwise mundane task of watching over the Tree.

………………

_Yuan sat in silence, watching the rain that fell from the sky drip into the stream that surrounded the newly sprouted Giant Tree. The weather seemed to reflect the mood that he had been in for the past few weeks; he was alone now. There truly was no one left that was like him, Mithos was dead, Martel was now playing the role of Guardian, and Kratos… he had left, sent himself to Derris Kharlan for the rest of an eternity. _

_Though in the past few years the two old friends had been acting like anything but, Yuan missed the light banter that had brought them back from the darkest reaches of each other's souls. Without his friend, he would truly have been lost to the madness that had overtaken each of them after the death of Martel. Now, his friend was gone, and the hollowness that had once filled his soul for his lost beloved, was now being reopened for the loss of a dear friend._

_The loss had opened up doors for him as well, Lloyd, searching for the lost years with his father, had come and a reluctant friendship had sprung between the ancient hero and the new. But the son, no matter the similarities, would never take the place of the father, and so, Yuan was forced to admit that he missed his friend._

_As the rain drops hit the surface of the water, they rippled out, only to be interrupted by the ripples of other drops. His reflection was morphed and lost to the soft rain. He could not see anything reflected in the stream._

_When Yuan felt a hand on his shoulder, he jumped, spinning around, hand on the hilt of the small dagger that he kept on his person at all times. He spun 'round, only to find the Spirit Martel surveying him with an air of worry in her green eyes._

"_Yuan… memories tell me that staying out in the rain will cause you to catch cold."_

"_Lady Martel," Yuan chuckled drily, "you forget what I am. Seraphim cannot catch cold."_

"_It was Martel that told me to warn you, Yuan."_

"_Beloved, _you_ forget what I have become. Though you were always too protective."_

"_Your friend Botta suggests that you are more mortal then you think."_

_Yuan eyed the Spirit wearily; she would sometimes speak the thoughts of the souls that created her being, literally saying what the deceased soul would have said. It unnerved Yuan._

"_Yes, well, you can tell Botta that he needed to finish the report I sent him on Angelic beings before he jumps to any conclusions."_

"_I suppose this is true." She was speaking for herself, not Botta, not Martel, not… well, even Anna sometimes spoke to him. "Though I think your friends are right to suggest you get out of the rain. We do not want you sick in case of an emergency."_

"_As you wish my Lady."_

_Yuan turned, his white robes rustling around him, and moved back toward the wood that had sprung up in place of the Tower of Salvation. Toward his home._

_The Spirit followed though the rain, which was increasing in heaviness. When Yuan held the door for her, she nodded her thanks._

"_If you do not mind, my Lady, I do not think the rain would harm you if you felt so inclined to enjoy it…"_

"_Rain is good for plants, Yuan, not for dresses. I would not want to ruin the fabric. I have no other garments."_

_Yuan, having known Summon Spirits for several millennia, doubted that the unearthly white-and-green robes that the Spirit always wore could possibly be ruined by something as trivial as a little rain, and he was about to tell her so when she spoke again._

"_You miss your friend, Kratos, do you not?"_

_Another thing that was unnerving about the Spirit of the Giant Tree was, despite not knowing the first thing about the basics of the world, she was incredibly insightful. Yuan, who was proven to be one of the harder people to read, was like an open book to her._

"_I… do not wish to discuss it."_

"_Would you like to speak to him?"_

_For a terrifying moment, Yuan thought she meant though herself, meaning Kratos was… dead._

"_The Derris Tree has a direct link back to the Symphonian planet though the Giant Tree. They are linked, I am sure that this link could last through space. Perhaps you could speak to your friend in that way."_

……………….

Both angels turned from their cards and nodded toward the Eternal Swordsman who had entered the room. Lloyd looked between them, beaming.

"Good news, I was watching Raine, Genis, Marta, Emil, and Tenebrae, and I guess Marta and Emil both blame the Centurion for you leaving. Dad, they're not speaking to him."

"Interesting," stated Kratos emotionlessly. He almost missed the banter and insanity that had went along with being a part of the group, known to Lloyd, Yuan, and Martel as "Party Ratatosk". Though the quiet and intimacy that being with his friends again almost made up for that. "I would not have thought that they would place the blame so entirely on Tenebrae."

"They don't wanna believe you're gone. They keep saying "he'll be waiting for us", "I bet Kratos'll be here in the morning", "oh, where _is_ he?" And Raine's been asking a lot of questions. I'd guess that she's trying to form her own hypothesis on what's going on. From the sound of it, and from what she's been telling Genis, that's the stuff I'm getting my information from, I think she thinks that-this is the really funny part- that Dad's Ratatosk!"

Yuan, who had been taking a drink of coffee, choked and began coughing into his cup. Kratos' mouth formed the closest thing Lloyd had ever seen to a gape, and all of the monsters began chortling, or, in Eon's case, letting out a croak-like laugh. Even Martel, who rarely laughed at most of Lloyd's jokes, chuckled at this proclamation.

"How is that… even possible?" Kratos seemed to be in shock.

"Well, see, she doesn't believe that you're back, but when I called you "Dad" at the Triet Ruins, she got thinking that maybe I was trying to give her a hint, which, I have to say, I _was_. But she took it the wrong way and now thinks, she can read mana signatures after all, that the Core on Marta's forehead is a fake and that you're Ratatosk. Something about you showing up in Palmacosta on the night of the blood-purge and then being "kind enough" to help out Marta, blah, blah, blah, and she's convinced that you left to, like, kill me or something to get the Cores."

"Ms. Sage believes that I am the Ratatosk spirit?"

"Yeah, that and Tenebrae's not exactly helping matters; he's not suppose to give away Ratatosk's whereabouts, and he's mad at you, so he's almost… ya' know, encouraging it."

"This is insanity."

………………

"_Raine, why do you think Kratos left?"_

"_I have my suspicions, Genis, however, nothing has been proved as of yet."_

"_Yeah, I figured you would. Wanna' enlighten me?"_

_Raine shook her head. "I'm… not sure that you are ready for-."_

"_Sis, please, I'm fourteen. I can handle it. Trust me. I've been through a lot more than some people twice my age!"_

_That was Genis, always crying that he was older mentally then physically. Raine debated his words for a long moment before nodding. _

"_Alright, Genis, I was going to have to tell you eventually, I just wanted to be sure. Keep in mind that you must not tell Marta, Emil, or Tenebrae. We do not know if they know or not…"_

"_Alright, shoot."_

_Raine hesitated for a moment before beginning, Genis' eyes glittered as he took in his favorite teacher's next lesson._

"_I believe that this "Kratos" is actually Ratatosk."_

"_What?! There's no way, I mean, what about the Core?"_

"_The Core is a fake, a decoy that was placed on Marta to divert the notice from the true Spirit. It is a logical way of thinking if you remember that the Vanguard, the Church, and… Lloyd are all in want of his Core. Though, I believe that Lloyd is aware of falsehoods of this Ratatosk's Core. Remember what he called Kratos in the Temple of Fire? "Dad"?"_

"_Yeah… I thought that he actually thought that Kratos was _our_ Kratos!"_

"_No, he was giving us a sign. Think about it, he acts a lot like the Kratos that we knew, but Kratos Aurion is floating away on Derris Kharlan thousands of light-years away. There is no way that he could be here, now, with us."_

"_Yeah, when you put it like that, it doesn't seem to likely…"_

"_And, logically, remember who the last people to make the pact with Ratatosk were; Mithos, Martel, Yuan, and Kratos. If Ratatosk needed a form, fast, he would go with the last form that he had seen which very well could have been Kratos."_

"_Whoa, you're right, Raine! Kratos really is Ratatosk!"_

_Lloyd, who had been listening in on his friends' conversation from out their open window in the Seagull Inn in Izoold, was forced to move away for fear of being heard laughing. He was going into hysterics, partially because the idea of Kratos being Ratatosk was the funniest thing he had heard for several months, and partially because he now found himself in a rather panicked state of mind. _

_Raine was so closed to the truth, and yet so far…_

_After containing his humor, Lloyd went to the window where he could hear the voices of Emil and Marta echoing out into the night._

"_Emil, I'm so worried about Kratos! What could he be doing?"_

"_Don't worry Marta, this is Kratos. He can take care of himself."_

"_I know… It's just… I miss him!"_

"_I know, I do too. He's got his monsters with him, though, so he's protected and warm. I bet he went to whatever home he had before he joined us."_

"_Yeah… I'm surprised at how fast he could move. We searched up and down the continent, and no one'd even seen him since he was with us! He probably already got a boat here and didn't even bother to stay the night."_

"_Probably… You know Marta, it's weird how attached we've gotten to him. I mean, a few months ago, we'd never even heard of each other, and now I don't feel safe without him around."_

"_I know exactly what you mean. I _do_ feel safe Emil, I really do, knowing you're around, but still…"_

"_We'll make it. We have to! For the Kratos' sake, if not the World. We'll find him and make him see reason." The determination in Emil's voice was something that Lloyd had never thought that he would hear in the voice of the front that Ratatosk put up._

"_Yeah. Um… Emil? I don't know how to really ask this, but, could you promise to never, ever leave me? I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you around. It's like the floor has dropped out from underneath me when I think about not having Kratos around, but thinking about not having you around… I just don't think I could go on…"_

"_I promise Marta. I won't ever leave you."_

………………

"They really miss you, Dad."

Kratos felt touched, Emil and Marta were really missing him. A large part of him wanted to return to them; however, logic dictated that that was impossible. Tenebrae would not allow it; fearing that Kratos would tell them of the reality of the situation.

"I do hope that they are alright…"

"I think they'll live. Oh, did you know that Regal got thrown into jail. I heard something about "arson" whatever that is."

"The President of Lezarano was thrown into prison for _arson?_" demanded Yuan. "What the hell are they thinking?"

"I don't know. But he's in Izoold, so I have no doubt that Ratatosk and co. are probably gonna run into him. And knowing Raine, she's gunna' try and save him just so she doesn't have to get on a boat."

Kratos chuckled; that did sound like something the half-elven teacher would do. Her fear of water had driven her do to so rather fantastic feats; Kratos could imagine her going to any lengths to avoid riding on a ship.

Lloyd had joined in the game now, his own hand held close to his chest so that neither his father nor uncle could cheat on him. He, on the other hand, was doing all he could to sneak a peek at the others' cards.

"Do you have any… sevens?"

"Lloyden, this is poker, not _Go Fish." _

"I-I knew that! I just forgot."

"Kratos, I don't wonder where you son got his brains."

"He was raised by a dwarf, what do you expect?"

"Hey, what the hell's that supposed to mean?!"

"Go fish."

"Shut up Yuan."

"Anna claims that it was Kratos' mind that Lloyd obtained."

"I agree with the all-knowing Spirit of the Tree."

"Shut up Yuan!" both of the Aurions, three monsters, and the Spirit snapped.

"I feel so unloved."

"Damn, you sound like Zelos."

"Lloyden, I do believe you are correct. Yuan does indeed remind me of the Chosen of Tethe'alla."

"What are you saying?! I am a thousand more times attractive then he is!"

"Anna claims that Kratos and Lloyd are much more attractive then yourself, Yuan. Martel disagrees with your wife, Kratos."

"I do suppose we are all entitle to our opinions, though I never did think much of Martel's taste. No offence, Goddess."

"None taken."

And so, the night did progress on.

……………..

_Nero carried Sophie at high altitudes while Eon clung to Kratos. The foursome flew though the chilling night air toward the location of the fallen Tower of Salvation and the location of the Giant Seed. It was an uncomfortable flight to say the least; Nero was not used to being so high, or flying at such speeds for so long with such weight. Eon and Sophie were not used to flying at all, and were deeply unnerved. _

_Kratos spent the majority of the journey trapped in his own thoughts as only a Seraphim could do so. Less than half his mind set on the task of getting them all safely to Yuan, while his thoughts centered around his own reoccurring guilt._

_Why did history always have to repeat?_

_Why was it always him?_

_When would it end?_

"LK, we just about there?"_ panted the Gremlin. _"I don't know how much longer any of us can keep this up!"

_Kratos looked over at the odd pair that seemed to be sinking lower and lower by the second. He should have sensed their discomfort long ago. His own displacement disturbed him._

"_We are over a continent now, if you would like to stop and rest for the night."_

"That would be heavenly, LK."

"I agree with the Imp!"

_Sophie said nothing, the little Alraune petrified by the hights._

"_Right, then we can land at your convenience, Nero."_

_Without a word, Nero dropped though the air, flight given up for the moment to increase the speed of their decline. Kratos dived after the pair._

_Sophie was screaming as they fell. She was unprepared when Nero had taken the dive._

"_Nero, what the hell were you thinking?!" cried Kratos once they had landed safely, the Gremlin having regained her flight abilities in order to stop their plumet._

"I was thinking I can't fly another freaking second before I collapse!" _hissed the Gremlin._ "I'm not strong like you are, oh great and powerful Knight!"

_The sarcasm, though expected, was unnecessary, and brought on by exhaustion. Kratos did feel horrid that he had forced them to fly under such merciless conditions, however, there was no other way to move…_

"_I am sure that you are all hungry. I shall make some food."_

"Not hungry, just tired. I'll have breakfast. In the morning."

_With those are her last words, the Gremlin dropped off into a deep sleep. Her big, black eyes closed and her body limp._

_Kratos spent a few moments getting a fire going as Sophie and Eon joined their friend in a little ball of warmth. He figured that they had landed somewhere further down the continent, having traveled over mostly land, they could not have gotten far. He studied the map for a long time, before deciding that they must be somewhere outside of Altamira, near the Toize Valley Mine. This was an area that Kratos had not been near for years, never needing the ore that the Mine produced._

_Kratos pulled out his blankets, and tucked them around the Gremlin, Alraune, and Oannes; they would need their rest for the journey that followed was sure to be one of much more flying._

……………….

"Hah! I win!" cried Lloyd, triumphantly pulling his winnings, a batch of gooey chocolate chip cookies, toward him. "Success!" He popped a sweet morsel into his mouth and turned to an expectant Martel and monsters. "Here, for a job well done!"

He handed them off some of his winnings.

"What the hell?" demanded Yuan.

"Yuan, I do believe we have been cheated."

Both Seraphim glared at the five smug-looking friends.

"There's just no beating me!" cried Lloyd, "I've got friends in high places."

"Martel!" cried Yuan, appalled, "You're a Spirit! You can't cheat!"

"Oh, just you watch me, Yuan Kafei," the Spirit smirked. "I can do whatever I wish."

Kratos had the feeling that this was just the beginning of a reoccurring pattern.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**Sorry that that was more filler-y then anything, but I felt like I had to get some personalities out there. And I wanted to play with Martel a bit, she's a complex character, being that's she's sort of a bunch of characters all put together. I rather enjoy writing her.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	40. In Which Rodyle's Ranch Stars

**Back to actual plottage…**

**I'm home sick, so, that means a little writing to take my mind off the pain in my throat.**

**Within the next few pages, thou shall find maps, plans, half-elves, exspheres, monsters, and an actual plot. It's the end of the world.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or the sequel.**

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"So, the Mana Cannon is… here!" Lloyd pointed to an area signifying open ocean on the large map of the new planet. "Which means the Remote Island Human Ranch should be somewhere in here." His finger ran over several islands off to the right, east, of the supposed location of the Mana Cannon.

"That is what my sources tell me." Yuan nodded his approval of Lloyd's assumption. "From what I hear, the Vanguard are attempting to find Ratatosk's Core in order to power the Mana Cannon. If they stumble upon the Remote Island Human Ranch, they'll find Rodyle's watery grave and the location of thousands of exspheres."

"Even that many exspheres could not power the Mana Cannon," Kratos mused, "However, we do not want them getting their hands on such a large collection of power."

"My thoughts exactly," concluded the ex-Renegade Leader. "That is why I think it would be in our best interests to send the two of you and these… things… to Rodyle's Ranch to clean out the exspheres."

The half-elf motioned toward the three monsters watching with wide eyes.

"Hmm, I was hoping that that one would be left until later, I mean, that's a couple of weeks' worth of work and cleaning. I wanted to do it on my own time… But we really don't have much of a choice." Lloyd looked between his sire and uncle. "I'm all for it."

"Agreed, we should get that done before the Vanguard have time to look too far into it."

"Normally I would have you dispose of the building using the self-destruct, however, when the control room flooded, it short-circuited the whole place. Unfortunately, I fear it could take you almost a full month's worth of cleaning before you've got them all. We just need to hope that the Vanguard does not try to come knocking during that time."

"Then it is settled, tomorrow Lloyden and I shall set off to the Remote Island Human Ranch and begin excavating exspheres."

That was how it was decided that the two Aurions, as well as the monsters, would head to the Ranch formally run by the double-crossing Rodyle. The Ranch brought Lloyd nothing but bad memories. He did not appreciate having to go back to the place where Botta and the Renegades had sacrificed themselves for him and his friends.

Even as the two males flew their Rheairds toward the southern islands, Lloyd's mind was far from where it should have been; remembering the pain that had been inflicted upon them all while trying to secure the Mana Cannon. Rodyle had been manipulated by the Renegades to build the large weapon, also known as Thor's Hammer, so that, after it had been built, they could take control and destroy the Tower of Salvation, therefore cutting off Mithos' grasp of the world.

The plan had ultimately failed, however, when the Kharlan Tree when insane, they were able to use the Mana Cannon to destroy the monstrosity. That had been the last time that Lloyd and the others had joined with Yuan and the Renegades before Yuan had told Lloyd of his connection with Kratos…

"We are quite nearly there, Lloyd, prepare to land!" called Kratos over the sound of wind.

"R-right!" As they descended, Kratos taking the lead, Lloyd scanned the area; there was nothing to be seen for miles but water and a few smaller islands. They were barely considered islands, just large rocks that jutted from the water. Lloyd followed his father, and the two landed comfortably on a bit of land that served as a docking station before the entrance.

"You know how we're gunna' get in there? Yuan said the system short-circuited."

"Like this." Kratos slammed his foot into the door and, though it was made of an obviously strong material, it dented in. Kratos repeated the action and soon enough their breaking-and-entering job was done and a large hole had appeared in the metal door.

"Damn… and here I was dumb enough to think you were subtle."

Kratos rolled his eyes at his son's teasing and passed through the entrance that he had made.

"I believe you are the one that has done this before, where should we begin?"

"Well, when I did the Iselia Ranch, I started at the storage area and the shipping area. Rodyle's a freak though, so he's probably got them everywhere."

"Agreed. You head to the shipping area and I shall find the storage. Burn the exspheres that you find."

"Yes, sir, Kratos, sir!" Lloyd mock saluted his father and wandered down the hall, taking a fork to his left.

"And take Eon with you!" Kratos called after the boy. When no reply came, Kratos sent the Oannes off after him. Turning to the two remaining monsters, Kratos said simply, "Sophie, come with me, Nero, watch the entrance. Do not let yourself be seen. Find Lloyd or myself if something comes up."

"_Righty-O, LK."_

"_Yes Master Kratos."_

And Kratos and the Alraune set off in the opposite direction that Lloyd had gone.

………………

"Mold and slime and yuck!" grumbled Lloyd as he wandered though the damp halls of the mostly underwater Ranch. Rodyle had never been one for actual exsphere production, however, he was majorly the mad-scientist type; Lloyd did not want to think about what was pickled in some of the jars that lined the walls.

Eon, on the other hand, seemed to have no issues with crossing the line.

"_Dude, I think that might have been my cousin,"_ he said, referring to one of the pickled things.

"Not funny."

"_You're no fun… so, what exactly are we looking for?"_

"The shipping area, but something tells me that this is not the right place to find it. I think we hit lab a long time ago. This is more likely to be the storage. So, I guess anything that has exspheres is good."

"_You mean the shinys over there?"_

"Yes, actually, that is exactly what I'm looking for."

Lloyd wandered his way over to a wall that was full of small, round, red exspheres. They sat on the shelves that lined the sides of the room. Despite the fact that they were covered in dust, two years of it if Lloyd was any judge, each still seemed to glow with an eerie internal light. Each little soul trying to say hello. It was strange, but Lloyd had grown very fond of the little stones since going on the journey to collect exspheres. Though his job was to destroy them, he saw it as releasing the life trapped inside.

"_Exspheres are… made from human lives?"_

_Lloyd watched in mute horror as those soulless red eyes, the eyes of a murderer, the murderer who had killed his mother, narrowed in heartless laughter._

"_Oh dear boy, why else would we keep you pathetic humans? Nourish you, allow you to grow? We do not do this from the goodness of our hearts. We keep you alive and protected, and in return… when you have lived the duration of your life… we take what we have given, and your life ends."_

"_How can you sacrifice people like that? People like my mother?!"_

"_Anna, A012, was just another prisoner. I would have let her live until the exsphere could no longer use her. Then, your father came along. Pathetic, inferior being that he was-" Kvar's eyes flashed to Kratos' for but a second, a second that Lloyd barely noticed, and back to the red-clad swordsman he was speaking to. "-and took her from me."_

"_You killed my mother for this damn exsphere?!"_

"_Of course not! The exsphere was not yet done using her life force. I would have let her live, but she refused to return with me. The exsphere was removed… and she turned into a monster-"_

"_And you Desians murdered her!"_

"_No we didn't. Your father did."_

Lloyd shuttered at the memory of the monster that, for all intents and purposes, had killed his mother. Revenge had been taken, and now all that was left of the monster who had run the Asgard Human Ranch was ashes.

Lloyd picked up one of the delicate stones, pushing the thoughts of Kvar from his mind, and examined the stone. There was an odd rumbling sound, and when Lloyd looked hurriedly up from examining the exsphere, he realized that he was not in the same room as he had been when he had grabbed the exsphere.

He was alone in a sparsely lit laboratory-looking room.

Something told him that he had just found Rodyle's secret lab.

"Eon! Eon, can you hear me?!" Lloyd called to the air.

"_I think so!"_

"What happened?!"

"_How the hell should I know?! One second you're standing there, and the next you're gone!"_

"Find Dad, he can help!"

"_Right. I'm on it!"_

Lloyd though he could hear the faint sounds of something smacking the ground as Eon, or so he hoped it was Eon, was hopping away to find his father. In the meantime, Lloyd had nothing better to do then to explore a mad-scientist's lab. He turned to his left and immediately wished he hadn't; in a large tank was a large dragon. A pickled dragon. Its eyes were open and it was staring at him though glazed, white eyes.

Lloyd turned away from the sight to the rest of the room, no longer able to play staring-contest with the dead creature. The room was filled with dozens of large, blinking machines, a thousand little lights blinked though the darkness; Rodyle must have had this room on a separate power source. Hundreds of exspheres glittered from high shelves on the walls like more dead eyes.

As Lloyd slid further through the mess, careful not to upturn anything, he saw tables full of plans for the Mana Cannon, how Rodyle was planning to destroy the Tower of Salvation, different devices, some of which Lloyd was quite sure the half-elf had produced. A blueprint of the Human Ranch, everything he could need to take over the world.

Lloyd walked over to the plans of a large machine and examined the layout. He'd take some time and figure out what was in here before Dad came…

………………

Kratos and Sophie had found the shipping area, meaning that wherever Lloyd and Eon had gone, they were probably cleaning out the storage units. Thousands of exspheres grown on human bodies disintegrated in the raging inferno that Kratos had created to destroy them. He sat back, watching the green-blue flames that leapt up and the noxious fumes disappear out the open-ceilinged room. It had been risky to start the fire here, where it could be easily seen by the Vanguard, but they had seen none of the terrorist group since arriving, and Kratos was keeping a close eye out for anything. He could quickly put out the flames…

Lloyd was right, it was a job that was going to take weeks to complete. They had time though, and it was completely necessary…

"_LK, yo, LK, we've got a problem!"_ Kratos turned to see Eon bounding down the hall toward him and Sophie. Lloyd was in trouble, he just _knew _it.

"What is it Eon?"

"_So, Lloyd and I were wandering around when we found a ton of shinies-"_ Kratos could only assume "shinies" were exspheres. _"-and Lloyd picked one up and then it was like the wall ate him or something! He was just _gone!_ Then I heard his voice coming though the wall and he told me to come find you!"_

Kratos sighed, it sounded like Lloyd was not in any immediate danger, however, he nodded to the Oannes. "Take us to where he vanished please, Eon."

"_Right!"_

Kratos muttered a few words and the fire diminished, leaving only the smoldering remains of the exspheres behind. It was only a few minutes into their walk when Kratos heard something that seemed to stop his heart.

"_LK, we've got company! I think it's the Vanguard; a bunch of soldiers and that scary Alice chick."_ Nero's voice echoed in his head like a communication had been turned on.

"Have they seen you, Nero?"

"_Nope, I'm staying hidden. Should I try to stop them?"_

"No, I'm coming. Eon, go back and tell Lloyd what's happening and Sophie and I shall head them off. Nero, meet with us in two minutes."

"_Right."_

"_On it, LK."_

Kratos and Sophie hurried off to the entrance and Eon bounded in the opposite direction to tell Lloyd what was happening.

………………

Lloyd squinted though the faint light looking down at the cramped print that covered the model he was examining. Could Rodyle really invent something like that that _worked?_ He traced a red glove-covered finger over the words as though feeling to see if they were real.

Lloyd had been trapped for only a few minutes in the laboratory, but he had already found the biggest invention in the place and was trying to work it out. Something that would have shocked his teacher was she there to witness. He mouthed the words to himself; this was big. If he could somehow get it to Yuan…

"_Lloyd! Lloyd, can you hear me?"_

"Eon, what's up?! Where's Dad?!"

"_Nero said there's invading Vanguard. LK can't get here, he's heading off the invaders. I'm supposed to be updating you!"_

"Go help Dad," Lloyd commanded. "No one'll find me in here. Be careful."

"_Okay, kid, you be careful too."_

Emotional goodbyes said; the Oannes leapt off to assist the Seraph in holding down the base, leaving Lloyd to further his explorations.

..................

When Kratos and Sophie met with Nero, the Gremlin was out of breath and, oddly, flustered. The Vanguard seemed to be trying to break down the door. Kratos had braced it before they had wandered too far from it and they had yet to notice the large hole that had been covered.

"Do they know we're here?"

"_Somehow I don't think so,"_ replied Nero. _"The sadist is with them, and she just said they're going to check the place out. Nothing about you or Lloydie… speaking of which, where is the kid?"_

"Apparently he's disappeared."

"_Uh… shit."_

"_Master Kratos, Nero, I think they've broken though the barrier…"_

Both man and Gremlin turned to see where Sophie was looking. It was as she said: the Vanguard had broken though the door and the guards were spreading out, making way for their leader.

It was Alice.

Kratos swore softly. This was not going as planned. He'd been hoping for something more routine. Instead he got… this.

"Listen up everyone," said Alice in a singsong voice. "Fan out and search for anything interesting. Our sources say that this is one of the Desian Ranches that went undestroyed by the Regeneration Group, so keep your eyes open for exspheres for me!"

The soldiers saluted and disappeared down the several paths that led in different directions. From their vantage point, Kratos saw several men go in the direction that Lloyd had. He hoped they would not run into Eon…

Alice sat down, flanked by her guards, in the middle of the room, looking like a goddess amongst faithful followers. She smirked at nothing, keeping her head high and waiting for the return reports.

"Damn," hissed Kratos. "We've got our work cut out for us…"

And Lloyd was still trapped somewhere…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**Sorry about the crap chapter, I'm feeling the writer's block again. I know where this is gunna go… hopefully. In the mean time, I'm starting a bit of a side plot. **

**Oh, BTW. CommodoreZelda13 has once again decided to post something new. **_**Phenomenon**_** has been plotted for several years now and I would highly suggest reading it.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	41. In Which Tut Returns

***Yawn* ugh, um.. yeah, forty-one.**

**Within you shall find… Alice, Exspheres, plans, not-so-epic battles, sarcasm, sadism, new "friends", and one very loved old friend. The goal? Finish with the RIHR this chapter, and move onto more important plot devices. The problem? I'm not sure what Kratos and Lloyd will get up to next. If you have any suggestions or input, please, share.**

**Disclaimer: I'm too tired to own Tales of Symphonia.**

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This was one of those days. One of the days where one wonders what the hell they did in a past life to deserve what was happening to them. Kratos Aurion knew what he did, he knew very well, though his sins had not technically taken place in a past life. Although he had managed to live for forty generations, committed crimes against humanity, and, ultimately, practically gotten the world destroyed, he somehow could not fathom as to why Fate had seen fit to throw this twist at him.

The list of people that Kratos hated with a passion had been growing extensively over the past few months, and it now incorporated Richter Abend, Alice, Tenebrae-added after Kratos had found that he had been encouraging Raine preposterous idea that _he_ was Ratatosk!-, Raine Sage, Genis Sage, and several others. A bit of an exaggeration? Perhaps; it all depended on the situation at hand. Now, there was a definite additive to the list, and his name was Decus.

Kratos mentally shuttered watching the periwinkle-haired man's insanely over-the-top movements and gestures. His ponytail flipped with his head as he jutted his pelvis out, head tilted back, hands lovingly over his heart. Alice, the girl he was speaking to snapped something; Kratos had moved far enough away that he was now out of hearing range even for angels.

He, Sophie, and Nero had had to abandon their hiding spot in favor of another which, though it was far more exposed, was more difficult to get to and provided a better seat for the show that was taking place below. Kratos had pulled the monsters with him and disappeared into a hidden service tunnel in the corridor of the Remote Island Human Ranch, there, they had wandered down the provided tunnel and come out in a bubble-like room. It was high above the heads of the Vanguard, and therefore Alice and this Decus, and the three were able to see everything that took place below.

Decus jumped back from Alice, looking… not so much offended as mortally wounded. Kratos did not, nor indeed did he care, what it was that had passed between the two that had caused the overdramatic Decus so much pain, though Kratos did assume that it was well deserved, but he was curious as to what it was that Alice was not instructing her cohort on.

Normally, in order to hear what was happening below, one had only to flip a switch on the computer behind them, however, with the power down, this would hardly work. Instead, Kratos resorted to pulling out one of the several knives kept on his person and attempting to break though the floor that they were seated in just enough to let sound in.

Damn soundproofed walls.

The floor, of course, being made of a material that was meant to withstand just about anything, Kratos was making little headway fast.

……………..

Where was Lloyd throughout all of this? The Seraph's Son was trapped in what was assumed to be Rodyle's secret laboratory. That seemed the only explanation for it. So, as per usual, Lloyd was trying to keep himself from dying of boredom. However, unlike many of the past experiences with boredom, he had found his solace in reading. Bent over pages and pages of blueprints that had been meticulously drawn-out by the Grand Cardinal what could have been years beforehand, Lloyd's thoughts were far from the break-in, but, rather, on what this information could mean for their cause…

Lloyd had just flipped to a new page of blueprints, when he heard voices from outside the wall that had, as Eon had so accurately put it, "eaten him".

"What the hell-? Hey, aren't these exspheres?"

"Yeah, Lady Alice's been looking for them."

"Bet she'd be happy to know they're here!"

"H-hey, look, this one's missing."

"So, what's your point?"

"It looks like it was taken off the shelf recently, I mean, look at the lines around the du-."

"Dude, you think to hard about these things! Lady Alice is gunna' love us if we show here all these!"

"R-right, I'm sure I'm just overreacting…"

"Yeah. Let's grab some so that we can show her they're real."

"Right!"

It was after a second of silence, in which Lloyd assumed that the two men were picking up exspheres, that two masked men slipped into the room. Lloyd watched in dawning understanding as he watched the wall open up and the floor under the two men move them into the room. There were barely noticeable tracks on the floor, almost impossible to see in the dim light.

One of the two men looked up and, upon finding himself standing in a very different room with a complete stranger eyeing him with amusement, exclaimed, "What the hell?!"

"W-what the-?!"

Both men were dressed in Vanguard finery; black and brown tunics, strange, bird-like masks, and short-swords hanging by their sides. Lloyd, who felt suddenly very flamboyant in his favorite red, grinned at the two gaping men.

"So, you got stuck in here too? Sucks to be us, am I right?"

"Y-you're Lloyd Irving!"

"Aurion."

"What?"

"Lloyd Irving-Aurion. Sheesh, if you're gunna' use my name as an insult; you may as well get it right!" Lloyd was in a strangely good humor.

Without appearing to really even have thought about it, the Vanguard on the left, or, rather, Lloyd's left, charged, sword swinging wildly. With practiced movements, Lloyd's own blades were out of their sheaths in time for him to gracefully block is opponent's flailing swings. Using one blade, Lloyd caught the man's short-sword and stopped it in its tracks, while he stepped out of the way; the other blade came down and tangled the man's legs, sending him toppling to the ground. His sword went flying.

The other man, shaking slightly, pulled out his blade and went at Lloyd full on, trying to catch the Eternal Swordsman off-guard with such a rash play. Lloyd brought his blades up in an X and the short-sword was caught between. It was loose, though, and the Vanguard pulled his sword back and slammed it at Lloyd's hand. This, however, proved to do nothing to Lloyd, as the flat of the blade was the part that slammed into his knuckles, not the bite of the edge.

His eyes widened when Lloyd did naught but raise an eyebrow at his elder's attempts to disarm him.

From behind, Lloyd heard the sounds of the other soldier picking up his blade and quickly leaping toward Lloyd while his back was turned. In a matter of seconds, Lloyd slammed the hilt of one of his blades into the Vanguard standing in front of him; the man slumped to the ground, unconsciousness claiming him.

Then, Lloyd spun, catching a surprised soldier with his blade raised over Lloyd's head in an attempt to knock him unconscious as well; apparently, these men were trained not to kill, but to disarm. Lloyd had no want, nor need, to kill either of the men that had attacked him, but he was swiftly losing patience with the pair.

The attacker had obviously not graduated top of his class in fighting, because he had left himself wide open, his leather vest sliding up and showing an unprotected midriff and legs. Lloyd's sword slipped into the Vanguard's hip, crippling him. Then his sword hit the top of the man's head, downing him.

Now, with two downed soldiers and a vague idea of how to get out, Lloyd set about gathering "his" things from about the room and started examining the wall where the two Vanguard grunts had entered.

He had found the perfect solution to their little Ranch problem. The issue? He had to safely get everyone, including himself, out of the building before he hit the self-destruct switch.

………………

"Dumbo-Decus, we're just here to see if there are any more exspheres for my little pets, so shut up and look!" trilled Alice as she snapped the little whip-like sword that she carried against her left palm. "Go!"

"But my precious Alice, I can hardly stand to be away from you under the best of circumstances, in such a dangerous place, you need protection!" Decus was down on one knee with his arms raised to Alice in a show of total servitude. "Please my lo-!"

"Dumbo-Decus, the only think I need protection from it that stink that you're wearing. It's disgusting!"

"And by "disgusting" you must mean amazing!"

"This has got to be one of the worst cases of denial I have ever seen!"

"Agreed." Alice and Decus both turned in surprise to see the Mercenary and two of his pet monsters standing behind them. The party looked murderous.

"Well, well, well, Krattie-kins, I was wondering when I was going to see you again," purred Alice, her voice dangerously soft, "If you're here, does that mean Mart-mart and the Little Pet are too?"

"So this is the guy you were talking about," muttered Decus, "Damn…"

"Emil and Marta are not here." Kratos' red eyes darted between the two of them, "I have not seen either for some time."

"Hmm… that's odd, neither have we. I'm still getting reports from Hawkie that they're in the Izoold-Triet area. That must be it then!"

Though the information that Alice had been nowhere near Emil and Marta was comforting, Kratos was still concerned about the group. Emil was still Emil even if he was Ratatosk, and Marta was too naïve she would hurt herself.

"You know, we've been getting some rather strange reports from Hawkie; he claims that Ratatosk's Core isn't actually on Mart-mart's forehead, that's one's a fake. He says that _you're_ Ratatosk."

Kratos paled, how was that information getting around so quickly?

"Would you like to explain?"

"Humph, you need not worry about that."

"If you're not going to answer, then I guess there's only one way to find out! Richter says that if you kill Ratatosk, then he becomes a Core. We'll just have to try out that little theory on you!"

Kratos clenched the hilt of his already drawn sword tighter as he watched Alice snap her fingers and several Vanguard attacked him on all sides, there was no warning. This being Kratos, however, he had three fallen, bleeding in several places and one dead, before they could all get on him properly. Sophie and Nero snapped into action as well; Nero sent out bursts of dark mana and Sophie had a small army of vines attacking though the floor, leaving large gorges in the metal.

Kratos sent another man flying; he slammed into the far wall and slumped, unmoving at the foot of it. A burst of dark mana sent one of the females stumbling backward to have her stomach sliced open by Kratos' sword. The group of three was making good headway against the Vanguard, all of whom were falling quickly.

Soon, the dozen or so men that had come at Kratos had been reduced to two, both of which were retreating.

"Decus get rid of him!" trilled Alice.

The periwinkle-haired man pulled from what Kratos assumed was an Iron Maiden a large double-edged sword. It was larger than he and, though it appeared to weight a large amount, Decus was able to deftly attack with speed and accuracy; Kratos was forced to leap out of the way to avoid being cleft in twain. Decus was able to last for several minutes singlehandedly against the Seraph, the two men dodging, slashing, and guarding against one-another.

Alice shrieked and yelled from her vantage point some ways away. When Kratos, at long last, was able to disarm the Vanguard, she let out a long low hiss and lashed out at Kratos. However, as her rapier bounced harmlessly off of Kratos' shield, a familiar voice crackled over a communicator hidden on her person.

"Hello? Anyone out there? Anyone?"

Alice, apparently thrown off-guard by this strange turn of events, leapt back several feet and pull out said communication device, twiddling dials to make the reception clearer, as though she could not believe her ears.

"Who is this?!" she snapped into the receiver, "state your name!"

"Uh… Is this the Vanguard leader chick? Yeah, I'm Lloyd, Lloyd Irving-Aurion."

Kratos could not fathom as to how Lloyd had managed to obtain a Vanguard communication device; however, hearing from his missing son was comforting, even if he was apparently over enemy lines. Then again, so was Kratos, technically.

"Wait, Lloyd as in Lloyd the Hero?"

"No his clone. Of _course_ I'm me!"

"But how did you get one of our communicators?!"

There was a snicker on the other end of the line and Kratos could easily picture Lloyd grinning like a moron as he said his next line, "You and your idiotic soldiers invaded my Desian Ranch. I'm cleaning out and caught a couple of your goons going through my secret lab. So, look, if you could just shoo, that would be fantastic."

""Shoo"? We are not going anywhere. I came here looking for exspheres and I intend to get some! In the meantime, did you know that one Kratos Aurion was sneaking around your Desian Ranch?"

"Why yes, actually, I did. What's it to you?"

"We've got him here."

"Got? I'm assuming by "got" you mean that you're in a stand-off with him and half your army's down."

Alice growled softly and Lloyd chuckled, "Thought so. Look, I'm serious about the whole leave bit, because otherwise, I've got a self-destruct switch and a hell of a lot of sea water and taking about the head of the Vanguard's combat unit would be a great way to end my week."

Lloyd was serious, and, though Kratos was not entirely sure how he was planning on doing so, he could easily see Rodyle having back-up everything.

"Alright Lloyd Irving, listen here, I don't know what you've got planned, but I won't let my plans be ruined by some wannabe-hero, so either pick yourself up, or I'll kill Ratatosk here and now. I'm sure he means something to you, and you'd prefer him alive to dead."

"What do you mean Ratatosk?"

"I know that Kratos is Ratatosk!"

After several seconds of silent snickering from Lloyd's end, a silence that Alice took for horrified, Lloyd managed to choke out, "W-well, I guess you've got me there, Alice. Just one question, how do you plan on killing the "Lord of Demons" when you can't even keep track of him?"

"What are you… talking… about…?" Kratos, however, was gone, and, much to Alice's horror, not a single person could say that they had seen him walk away. He, as well as his monsters, had all vanished.

"So, what exactly were you planning on using as your next bargaining tool?"

Alice was ready to throw the communicator across the room.

………………

Lloyd set the stolen communicator down on one of the nearby tables cluttered with plans and whatnot left behind by the deceased Grand Cardinal. From the sounds emanating from the communicator, Kratos had taken his distraction and fled. After he had found the way out of the lab, he had met up with two very helpful friends. Slipping back into the lab, he had been able to contact Alice and get his father out of a perceived tight situation.

At present, the two Vanguard soldiers that Lloyd had defeated were tied up and tossed into the corner of the room. His new accomplices were guarding them, though Lloyd was quite sure that simply their presence would have kept the terrified men at bay.

Eon was chattering nonstop, filling in, this was the shocking part, Tut on everything that he had missed while he had been recuperating in Tenebrae's monster haven. Tut, however, had done far more than simply recover while there, he had evolved into an Orion, a large green and silver wolf-like creature. He looked somewhat similar to Noishe, but he was much fiercer; standing a full head taller than Lloyd, who was by no means small, simply being in the same room as he was awe-inspiring.

However, like when many Gods, when that same power was pissed in your general direction, let alone _at_ you, it tended to cause one to wet one's pants.

"_You should have been there!"_ Eon finished another long-winded story, _"The prank the Imp and Soph played on Blue was epic!"_

"_That is freaking awesome!"_

"Guys, I don't mean to break up the party, but I think focusing is probably a good idea," Lloyd cut across, "Eon, you mind finding Dad-er… _Ratatosk."_

"_Right!"_ the Oannes hopped off to find his master.

"So, the plan's to blow this place to Derris Kharlan once we get Dad, Sophie, and Nero. Hopefully we'll get rid of a few Vanguard soldiers while we're at it." Lloyd glared pointedly at the two tied and gagged men. "Any questions?"

"_Uh, who died and made you God?"_

"Mithos."

"_Figures."_

………………

When Eon found Kratos, Sophie, and Nero, he had a lot to tell them. However, it was a chore to find them as Kratos had hidden them away quite well. The Vanguard were searching up and down the Desian Ranch looking for any sign of Lloyd, Kratos, or any of the monsters. The orders were to bring the back, alive preferably, though dead would work just as well.

It was now common knowledge in the Vanguard that Kratos, not the core on Marta's forehead, was Ratatosk. Of course, this was good news for Marta and Emil, and very, very bad news for Kratos and Lloyd. They had enough going on as it was, the last thing they needed to do was lead the Vanguard back to the Giant Tree, Yuan, and Martel…

When Eon found them, or, rather, stumbled upon their hiding spot and was ambushed by the irritated pair of Sophie and Nero, he was able to tell them exactly what had happened since the two parties had separated.

"_You'll never guess who's here!"_

"_The Vanguard."_

"_Better!"_

"_Eon, anything would be better than the Vanguard!" _To Kratos' surprise, it was Sophie who growled this. Nero and Eon both eyed the Alraune oddly as she glared at them, her wide, black eyes sharp.

"_Uh… Yeah, anyway, Tut's here!"_

"_Tut? Seriously?"_

"_Yeah, he showed up, I guess he got though the busted roof in the dragon storage place and he found me while I was looking for you guys. He's with Lloyd now."_

"So Lloyd is safe?"

"_You're kidding, right? That kid of yours can handle himself; he even found a working self-destruct switch. All we have to do is find him again and get out of here."_

"Take us to him."

………………

Lloyd eyed the lists of instructions that appeared on the screen as he tried in vain to reset the self-destruct switch. His hands glided over the keyboard smoothly; punching in every combination he could to readjust the countdown. From behind he heard one of the soldiers whimper as they saw what he was doing.

He sighed and turned to them, "Hey, don't suppose either one of you knows how to work these things?" He asked, not in the least expecting either to know a thing and he was not disappointed, both shook their heads and Lloyd turned back to the computer waiting for his father.

It was then that he heard the sounds of their approach. The sound of monster heartbeats, talking, and movement was easily distinguished from the clattering and mutters of the Vanguard soldiers. Lloyd moved to open the door and allow the odd party to come in.

There was a shout from behind him as Tut saw Kratos and leapt on top of him, licking his face.

"_It's been forever LK! How are you? Ladies, lookin' good!"_

Tuning out the Orion's flirtations, Lloyd turned to his father.

"Found Rodyle's lab."

"So I noticed, what exactly are your plans from here?"

"Well…" Lloyd pointed at a large generator that was glowing at the center of the room, "this place works on a separate power source then the rest of the Ranch. There's even a self-destruct button for our convenience. I figure recalibrate it so that we can get out of here and blow the place sky-high."

"The fact that you simply know the term "recalibrate" amazes me as much as that you were able to find the self-destruct switch."

"Shut up, you are the meanest father I have ever had."

"…"

"Sorry, went too far."

Thus, father and son set about _recalibrating_ Rodyle's back-up self-destruction. Only minutes later, Kratos had it up and running and Lloyd was still wondering how he had done it.

"We have five minutes, I would suggest we leave," stated Kratos blandly, as though saying that they had to leave early in order to get home on time.

"Right, what should we do with them?"

"_Take them with and dump em' outside, hope they don't get sliced in half by flying shrapnel?"_

"I'm with Nero on that one!" chirped Lloyd happily.

"Perhaps we should take them with? We could leave them on the way back. At least then they are guaranteed survival."

"Dang, if you _are_ Ratatosk, you're the nicest Demon Lord I've ever met."

"You've met some in the past to compare me to?"

Lloyd watched in amusement as the soldiers' eyes widened, they just having supposedly found out who the real Ratatosk was. A sadistic part of Lloyd desperately wanted them to survive and the rest of the Vanguard to spend their time running after his father while Emil went unnoticed.

"Shall we head out?"

……………….

Alice was waiting for them as Tut carried out their prisoners in his mouth and the rest of the group was mildly amused by the sight of a not-so-intimidating blond girl in bloomers guarding the door.

"You're not going anywhere, Ratatosk!"

"_She uses it like it's an insult."_

"Yeah, well I've heard worse."

"_Worse?"_

"I was once called "You… Son of Kratos!"

"Mithos?"

"Oh yeah."

"Would the two you stop having a pointless conversation and _hand over Ratatosk!"_

"Um… no. Come on, we have to get out of here before this place blows. I don't know about you, but I do not want to end up on Derris Kharlan again."

With those words, Lloyd brushed past Alice and Kratos and the monsters followed.

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**Lame ending to a somewhat epic chapter, but that's why this thing is posted under humor. **

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	42. In Which Mistakes are Made

**Chapter 42:**

**In which you shall find… Boredom, friend, foes, lies, truths, humor, horror, bloodshed, idiocy and foreshadowing. Lloyd forgot to put his brain in when he got out of bed this morning.**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi does not own Tales of Symphonia.**

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Yuan was laughing. This was a very rare and odd occurrence as the rather cold and bitter Seraph-turned-Renegade never laughed. Not outright as he did now; he would sometimes let out the bitter bark of laugher, or perhaps a dark chuckle. Anything that he found truly amusing—and this, too, was virtually unheard of—was met with a cool smirk or an amused eye roll.

However, upon hearing the story of what had happened at the Remote Island Human Ranch, Yuan could not but laugh harder than he had for nearly a century. Lloyd had been the one to relay the story to his uncle while Kratos and the monsters watched in a fascinated exasperation. The Eternal Swordsman told the story with the usual melodrama that accompanied most of what he did; complete with hand gestures that could have rivaled Decus.

"And as we flew away, Alice got the rest of the Vanguard out of there, or at least the ones that she could find, and the whole place blew!" Lloyd ended his story with a wild flailing of his hands to signify the explosion that had overtaken Rodyle's Ranch. Kratos chuckled softly at his son's antics; he was much like his mother…

Yuan heard his old friend's show of amusement and caught his eye, a small smile curling the blue-haired half-elf's lips. Martel, who was sitting quietly listening to Lloyd's story, did not miss the exchange.

"It all sounds very exciting, Lloyden." Yuan rolled his eyes.

"Agreed, I am glad that the six of you were able to make it safely back, it sounds rather traumatic," the spirit of the Tree smiled at the Aurions. "And you will always have a story to tell."

"Humph, indeed." Lloyd and Kratos both eyed Yuan, who seemed to have lost the amusement in his eyes at the Spirit's words. Kratos could understand why; that was something that Martel, the old Martel, would always say. She had been a great lover of stories, and for every adventure that she, Mithos, Yuan, and himself had had, she would always say that they had another story to tell. During the war, they were some of the few things that one had to lose oneself in while the world fell apart around you.

The death that had occurred around them was taken away as Kratos or Martel ,or Yuan or Mithos would spin tales for their amusement as they sat around the campfire at night. The Goddess bringing up something so reminiscent of his lost beloved must have hurt Yuan.

It had hurt Kratos.

"Yup, talk about epic!" cried Lloyd, either oblivious to, or avoiding acknowledgment of Yuan's mood. "I'm thinking that we knocked out at least half their army! Not to mention saved ourselves a ton of time now that we don't have to clean up Rodyle's mess."

………………

Kratos had gone out and Martel had taken the monsters to show the four of them around the Giant Tree. It was the perfect time for Lloyd to approach Yuan with plans of a rather… _questionable_ nature. He would not dream of speaking his plan aloud when his father or the Spirit were present. He would have been reprimanded, and his plans not even considered. However, he knew that if they took the chance, and perhaps Yuan would be willing to, there was almost no chance of failure.

Yuan was sitting quietly in his bedroom when the red-clad swordsman entered. The half-elf was sitting quietly at his desk, looking over some papers for the Renegades that still sent him weekly reports, out of sheer habit. When Lloyd slid the blueprints that he had obtained from Rodyle's lab over the report that Yuan was engrossed in, the man rose a blue eyebrow and eyed the plans skeptically.

"What is this?"

"Something I picked up from the Ranch."

"I repeat; what is this?"

Lloyd wordlessly pointed to the small print at the top of the plans, the title hidden amongst measurements and descriptions. His uncle's other eyebrow rose to the height of the first upon reading the words that Lloyd directed him toward.

"I see. May I inquire what exactly it is that we would do with one of these?"

"You once said that everything would be easier had we a certain- shall we call him a friend?- on our side."

"How the hell would this help with that?"

"I have a plan."

Therefore, a rather smug Lloyd proceeded to explain in painstaking detail, the plans that which he had come up with while trapped in Rodyle's lab. Once he had finished, Yuan seemed genuinely impressed.

"Do you think it could work?"

"I believe," said Yuan slowly, as if still thinking the plans over in his head, "that we may be capable of doing so, however, the question would be as to whether or not this is a good idea."

"Morally-"

"It is not of morals I speak, Lloyden, my morals, as well as yours, were compromised long ago. No, what I speak of is what we would be willing to risk in order to save the world. We may be bringing a greater risk upon it by doing so. Is it worth the risk? Think of what we would lose were… were we incapable of controlling what we create."

"You said it yourself, Yuan, we would not lose to Ratatosk as long as we have_ him_ on our side. I think, under the circumstances, we have to do something, why not have it be this?"

"Have you spoken to your father about this?" The question was curt; Yuan had only asked the question as a courtesy, he already knew the answer.

"Dad wouldn't be happy that we are even debating it."

"My thoughts exactly. And I take it that you do not plan on telling him."

"Well, he'd have to know eventually."

"Everyone would have to know eventually," Yuan paused and seemed to think for a very long moment before making up his mind. "I will begin construction on your machine. You, Lloyden, should think as to whether or not you are willing to risk the world that you have just saved to save it again."

Lloyd had already thought through the idea thoroughly, and had come to the same conclusion: the risk had to be taken. The world depended on it.

………………

Lloyd was bored. And when he stated his feelings aloud, he received glowers from both his father and godfather. Both of the elder men were sitting with their noses buried in thick books, something that Lloyd would never be able to do.

"We should do something!"

"And what would you suggest?" snapped Kratos, "Until we find the next location of a Core, there is little for us to do but be patient."

Lloyd hated that word. Frustrated, restless, and unable to place the blame on anyone present, he silently begged Ratatosk to hurry up and find another Core!

"I'm going out." Lloyd stood and made his way out of the wooden building and marched through the woods toward the Tree. He heard the sounds of play that were coming from the direction of the great Mana-producing plant.

Soon, the sight of his father's four little pets playing around, racing, talking, napping, met him. Martel seemed to love the creatures, always playing with them and watching them; Nero was napping on her lap—Lloyd was shocked to see this occurrence as he had not thought the Gremlin would have allowed herself to relax in the presence of anyone except her master—Sophie was sitting by the Goddess and Gremlin and cheering on Eon and Tut, who were having a race.

"_Go, go!"_ she cried happily amused.

"_You're going down, froggie! The great Tut shall defeat you!"_

"_Bring it Fur Ball!" _

Lloyd watched at the interactions continued, enjoying watching the five friends relax. He slid though the trees and sat down on the other side of Goddess Martel and watched as Eon was beaten by a very haughty Tut.

"_Who's the Fur Ball now, hmm, Toad?"_

"_Asshole!"_

"_Thou shall now call me King Tut!"_

Lloyd chuckled. "Hey Martel, 'sup?"

The Goddess rose an eyebrow at the boy's slang; a small smile tugging at her lips as, Lloyd was quite sure, several souls interpreted for her.

"Little, Lloyden, my thanks for your concern."

"Uh, yeah, no problem. I'm bored."

"So I see," Martel's green eyes twinkled, "have you spoken to Yuan or your father about it?"

"Yeah, they both chewed me out."

"Hmm…" Martel looked at Lloyd, "perhaps you should go to the Tethe'alla capitol city."

"Meltokio? Nah, Zelos'll probably be there, and I'd rather not run into him; too many questions, you know?"

"Well," the Mana incarnation was never able to complete her thought as at that moment, a Rheiard landed and a crying woman stumbled off, running toward them. Lloyd knew her instantly: it was Suni, one of the ex-Renegades that remained in contact with Yuan. She lived with her husband in Flanoir, and the two of them, along with a few others, were generally in charge of keeping unsuspecting humans away from the old Tethe'alla base.

The pretty half-elf's white-blond hair flew out behind her as she raced toward Lloyd and Martel. She was crying and the tears streamed off her face. She was bleeding.

"L-Lloyd, Flanoir, w-we were attacked! S-someone said that _you_ attacked Flanoir! But you're here!" The usually cocky and smart-mouthed Suni could barely get a word out. "W-what's going on?!"

"Suni! Suni, calm down. Now, tell me what's going on? What do you mean Flanoir was attacked?" Lloyd pulled out a few gells and clean bandages and began to fix up the ex-Renegade as she relayed what she had seen to him.

"Like Palmacosta," she began softly, "it was early morning, and we were in bed when we heard screaming. For a while we didn't think anything of it, but then Hans got up to see what was going on and he saw someone in red run by with a flaming torch or something! Half the city was on fire! We ran out to try to help and Marvin and Haley were already out there. They said _you_ attacked Flanoir!" Suni finished, looking at Lloyd with horror-struck eyes. Lloyd shook his head quietly.

"I don't know what's going on, but it definitely wasn't me that attacked Flanoir. I haven't left the Tree haven for a week. Dad, Yuan, and Martel'll all vouch for me."

"I believe you, but then what happened in Flanoir?!"

"I don't know. Martel, I need to go check this out. Can you please take Suni to Dad and Yuan and tell them what's going on?"

Lloyd stood, helping Suni up as well, and Martel stood with him.

"Of course, Lloyd, please be careful."

"Right."

………………..

Lloyd was flying faster than he had ever thought possible; he had not bothered to grab his Rheiard, nor did he take Suni's, he had simply pulled out his wings and gone. The flight from the Tree to Flanoir was generally an hour by Rheiard; Lloyd cut the journey in half.

Snow was falling softly from the dark heavens and, due to the season and the northern location of Flanoir, it was still early morning, only seven at latest. Lloyd landed just outside of Flanoir's front gates, pulling in his large blue-green wings and running in. The air of urgency had increased as, through the cold, billowing snowdrifts, Lloyd had seen the smoke and orange flames leaping high into the sky.

He raced into town, not worrying as to if his wings had been seen or not; the lives that could have been lost were he properly cautious were far more important.

…………………

Kratos had followed his son across a continent and a deep sea, shocked at how fast the boy had flown. Goddess Martel and the Renegade girl had burst into Yuan's small home and the two, along with much help from four very talkative monsters, had relayed what had happened in Flanoir, and where Lloyd was going, to the very appalled Seraphim.

Yuan had stayed behind to protect the Tree and help Suni while Kratos had taken off after his son. However, as he glided over the forges that surrounded the ice-covered continent, he spotted something that made his heart nearly stop; there was a large ship labeled _Lezareno _sailing toward the shipping docks that were located in the northern portion of the continent.

Under normal circumstances the sight would have done little to surprise Kratos; Lezareno, being the largest company in the Worlds, had a hand in everything. He may even have been pleased, for the ship must have been filled with workers, men and women that could help the suffering in Flanoir. However, this ship carried more than wares. From his vantage point, with use of his hypersensitive angel-eyes, Kratos could plainly see Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and Regal on the deck of the ship.

Kratos increased his speed.

………………

"Lloyd!"

Lloyd turned to see his father approaching; the angel seemed surprisingly calm for just having had to pass though most of a decimated city in order to find him. Lloyd had seen enough death and destruction to last his entire life and the lives of most of the people on the planet, and he still could not quite stomach it.

"Dad, how's Suni?"

"She shall live," stated Kratos, "Are you alright?"

"Confused, but alright, I guess. Who would do this?"

"The Vanguard most likely."

"But a bunch of people said it was _me-."_

"It was not, however, so we shall have to let this sort itself out. In the meantime, we should leave."

"But what about the people?!"

"Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and, I believe, Regal are on their way here as we speak, as well as a large ship of people who can help the city. If it is indeed true that there are eyewitnesses claiming that you destroyed the city then it would be wise not to linger."

"I… guess you're right."

………………

"Lloyd Irving!"

"Dammit!" growled Lloyd as he and Kratos turned to face Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and Regal. "Uh… 'sup Regal?"

"Kratos, what are you doing with him?!" Marta cried, "We've been so worried about you!"

Kratos eyed the girl wordlessly. She flinched away from his cold, calculating look.

"Lloyd," rumbled the deep voice of Regal, "what is going on? Why are these people saying that it was you that destroyed the town? And then we find you here…? Tell me what is going on."

Before Lloyd could answer, Marta cut across him, her eyes widening, "Decus!"

"It's you!" Kratos, Lloyd, Tenebrae, Marta, Emil, and Regal all turned to see Decus pointing in his usual melodramatic manner at Kratos and Lloyd who, in turn, "death-glared" back at the periwinkle haired Vanguard.

"Oh, fantastic, it's Smelly," grumbled Lloyd. "And here I'd hoped we'd actually managed to blow you up! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Grr… What does it matter what _I'm_ doing here? I know what you're doing here: you're destroying Flanoir!"

"Damn, what does everyone think…?"

"You caused a lot of problems four us at the Human Ranch! Your interference stopped us from getting Ratatosk's Core!"

"Not this again," hissed Kratos.

"Your secret's out, old man, everyone in the Vanguard knows that you're Ratatosk!"

There were dual gasps from behind as Marta and Emil registered what Decus had said.

"K-Kratos, what is he talking about? You're Ratatosk?!"

"But I thought the Core was on Marta's forehead!"

Kratos sighed and turned to look at the astounded faces of the children behind him, "That is ridiculous, I am not-."

Lloyd interrupted his father, "Give it up, Ratatosk, they're on to us already," cut off Kratos' denials. "Stupid Vanguard, you guys shouldn't go around sticking your noses where they don't belong." Lloyd's garnet eyes flashed as he glared at Decus.

Kratos was struck speechless; _what the hell was Lloyd doing?!_

………………..

"Lloyd, what the hell were you thinking?!"

"Working this to our favor!" Lloyd protested under the burning glare of his angelic father. Lloyd had not seen Kratos so angry for a very long time. Not since he had yelled at the Derris Emblem Lloyd… "At least we're keeping Emil safe awhile! And the Vanguard won't be able to find you as long as you stay at the Tree…"

"And if they find the Tree?!" hissed Kratos, his eyes boring into his son. "What then, Lloyden?"

"Um… oops?" Apparently Lloyd had not thought his plan though quite as thoroughly as he had thought he had in the few seconds that it had taken him to make his decision and act. "Sorry?"

"Dammit Lloyden, what did I tell you about _thinking?!"_

………………

"So," whispered Marta, eyes wide as she sat in the inn in Flanoir with Regal, Emil, and Tenebrae. "Kratos is really Ratatosk. He lied to us. All this time I thought the Core on my forehead was real; but it's not. I wondered why a stranger would offer to help me after Palmacosta, but I just thought he was nice… not that he was really…" She was rambling simply to fill the shocked silence.

Regal, who was the least shocked of the bunch, rested a hand on the girl's shoulder in a show of chivalrous comfort. The letter that Raine had given him in guise of a love letter had portrayed all of her thoughts on this very subject. It, along with several other rather… interesting topics, had been relayed to the President of Lezareno.

Emil was silent for a long moment, unspeaking, as his thoughts bounced between the lies that he had been fed by a friend and a mentor, and the reality that he had been betrayed and his friend had returned to Lloyd. Was everything, all of the truths that they had been told, lies? His entire life, the fact that Kratos was a half-elf, that Lloyd was his son; all of the secrets that he had shared, all had been lies. He felt alone and broken hearted.

"Tenebrae," he growled so viciously that for a moment, Marta was wondering if it was Ratatosk's power, or Emil that was controlling the boy. To her surprise, it was still Emil that was in control. "Did you know that Kratos was actually Ratatosk?!" Emil was torn between fury and tears. "Did you?!"

The Centurion took a long moment to answer, each word weighed heavily. "I… had my suspicions, and was later informed of the reality of the situation. However, my orders were to protect the Core, whether it be real, or not. I did as I was told."

"So you knew that all along we were being lied to?!"

"Emil, calm down!" cried Marta, "Tenebrae, why do I have the Core on my forehead if Kratos is Ratatosk?"

"To put is simply, you were a distraction while Lord Ratatosk slipped away. It seems the plan did not work, however, as now the Vanguard know of his true form."

"But, I thought Ratatosk was on our side! I thought we were working for him! Why is he working with Lloyd now?"

"I do not know, Lady Marta, but I would suggest that we continue with our mission unless we are told differently."

"But why would he…?"

"I do not know. I doubt we shall ever know."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**That went in a hugely, painfully, weirdly different direction then I had planned it...**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	43. In Which Lloyd Gets into Trouble

**Chapter 43.**

**I've been very distracted by Halloween and reading **_**Death Note**_** online, so this chapter came somewhat slowly. Decided that I'm going to take a bit of a break and give you a filler for a chapter or two, then move the plot along with the Double Scene. In the meantime, enjoy my cryptic side-quest chapter.**

**Within you shall find… Lloyd, lots and lots of Lloyd, and another Kratos makeover, poor guy, this has got to be his worst enemy!**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi doesn't own Tales of Symphonia.**

* * *

Lloyd Irving-Aurion had just officially decided that he needed to spend more time with people his age. After all, very few twenty-year-olds actually used the word "concur" in everyday conversation. He had been spending way, way, _way_ too much time with his father and uncle. He made his way out of the little shop, carefully avoiding the heated glares or curious stares of those around him.

For the job, or, rather, the shopping trip that he had gone on, Lloyd had exchanged his bright red tunic and dark pants for less outstanding clothing; a back top and pants. Despite this, however, Lloyd was still a public figure and, therefore, was not difficult to mistake. The streets of Sybak offered decent cover though, as most of the humans were his age, and he could blend into the young crowd with ease.

It seemed odd that in such an intelligent city Lloyd was thinking how he preferred his dumbed down vocabulary in comparison with the more advanced one that he now possessed. This, of course, was hardly what he should have been thinking about. He had a real job, not simply shopping for his father and Uncle Yuan. He had parts to get for his project. Parts that could only be obtained at the Elemental Research Academy, and only though slightly less… legal actions then walking into a shop and purchasing bread.

Wandering around the main square of the college town, Lloyd slipped into one of the alleys that hid in the shadows of the gargantuan library that was the focal point of the square. He extracted a thin, black mask to wear over his head in case they whom he was stealing from saw him. The last thing he needed to do was to leave a path to what he and Yuan were doing. They would be in enough trouble without being followed by someone from the Elemental Research Academy.

Using the alleys that sat neglected behind the many schools and research buildings that made up the bulk of the city, Lloyd navigated his way to the large, prison-looking building that was the Elemental Research Academy.

There were no open windows, nor were any of the doors left unlocked to let in the cool winter air. The day was crisp, but not uncomfortably so, or so Lloyd thought. Then again, the Crystal had dulled his senses, so he really was no judge.

Luckily for Lloyd, he did not need any doors or windows in order to enter the building; during their last Journey, he, Zelos, and Presea had been locked in one of the dungeon-like research rooms that half-elves did studies in. They had managed to befriend a woman named Kate who, incidentally, had done the large portion of the testing on Presea's exsphere. She had showed them a secret passage that allowed them to sneak out into this very alley and save Raine and Genis whom had been taken captive by the late Pope's soldiers.

Lloyd sighed as he made his way past a multitude of high windows; most, if not all, were closed to the warm sunlight that penetrated the cool, winter air. Spring would be arriving soon for everyone in the world but Flanoir, the land of perpetual winter.

He quietly slipped around another corner, and found himself facing a dead-end. The grubby bricks and trash that littered the area only showed how neglected it was. The Eternal Swordsman bent down and found the filth-covered manhole cover, his gloved fingers sliding under the edge and lifting it to reveal a small metal ladder that lead into the dark depths below. He was unsure who had originally developed this little secret passage, but he thanked them to no end.

He took the first rung, and then the second, quickly lowering himself down into the foul-smelling sewer below. As he descended into darkness, his eyes adjusted, and he found himself staring at a river of dark, murky water, or rather what he hoped was water. There was also a musty tunnel, only just tall enough to allow him to stand straight if his hair was pushed under the facemask he wore. His hands moved along the slimy walls, wet from the condensation of the water in the river mere feet away, searching and searching.

Finally, he found what he was looking for; two half-circle indents separated by a rung in the middle, used as a handle. He twisted it, hoping that his luck would last and there would be no one to see his entrance; having no way to see the other side, he had to take his chances.

His luck held, and the basement storage room that had once been used as a prison for half-elven slaves was void of life. That, however, did not mean that there was no movement; lights blinked, soft whirring and beeping sounds permeated the air. It was dark, but not so dark that Lloyd could not see and, after a few steps further into the room, a motion sensor light flickered on. Lloyd froze as the buzzing of the lights joined those made by the technology, however, no alarms sounded and he allowed himself to relax a bit.

He had a job to do, after all.

"All right," Lloyd muttered to himself, "Yuan wanted the "Splicer", the "Stabilizer-cabob", and the "Crystal Enhancer"." He referred to the list and descriptions that his uncle had supplied for his trip as he had for the grocery list that his father had sent. "Right, so the thinger should be biggish, electromagnesium… and, oh, wait, electromag_netic,_ whatever that is, and a big thing that looks like a tweezers on the end… "

Lloyd examined each of the machines in turn before settling on the one closest to Yuan's description. He moved down the list as such, carefully comparing until all of the mechanisms were safely tucked away in his wingpack.

It took him nearly an hour of solid work to get everything done and, in the end, was rather pleased with the progress he had made, though his was still unsure as to if he had gotten the right "Crystal Enhancer" as there had been two that were quite similer…

His mind was made up for him, however, as his sensitive hearing picked of the sounds of faint footsteps and soft voices coming from the other side of the thick metal door. He stood petrified for another long moment- the exit was on the other side of the room!-before hurrying into action, racing across the room, sliding in-between the maze of machinery to reach the bookshelf at the far side. As the door slid open, he pulled at a thin, green novel at the bottom of the shelf and the door slid open for him. He slipped though and slammed the door behind him, the locks and latches clicking into place.

He let out the breath that he had not realized that he had been holding and hurried back the way he had come, finding an over-all mission success.

………………..

Of all the things to not be able to tell your father, your plan to save the world is one of the cruelest; especially when he is directly affected by said plan. Lloyd, however, knew better than to think that Kratos could not handle what he, Lloyd, had planned. Luckily he had Yuan, who, though not much of a comfort, was at least someone to confide in.

His uncle had been very pleased with his work, finding all of the "acquired" machines to be exactly what he had requested. He was even pleased enough to listen to Lloyd's long-winded tale of how he had nearly escaped being caught and gave a bit more than a raised eyebrow as response.

"Indeed, you are truly a master of disguise," Yuan rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Impressive."

"He he, thanks, Yuan. Anyway, will this help? Can you do it?"

"Was there any question?" The smile twitched into a smirk. "Have you so little faith in me?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes; family was so strange.

………………

It was some several days later that Lloyd was, as he always was, bored. He and his father and Yuan and the Goddess Martel were all sitting in Yuan's small family room. They were amusing themselves in such ways as reading, staring into nothingness, or, in Kratos and Lloyd's case, playing a small game of cards. This, however, failed to really interest Lloyd as they were several games in, and he was down for four.

He voiced his opinion: "I'm bored!"

The room at large sighed in exasperation.

"Kratos, amuse your son!" growled Yuan, turning a page in his thick novel.

"Bored, bored, bored, boredy, bored boredom. I am so bored! Boredboredboredboredboredbored! Make something happen!"

"Would you shut up!"

"I want something to _happen!"_ complained Lloyd. "Why won't another Core turn up?!"

"They'll turn up when they turn up!" snapped Kratos, angered with his son's child-like behavior, he was now a man, and he should act more mature. "We could go out, but since you've seen fit to tell the world that I am Ratatosk, we can't risk leading the Vanguard back to the Tree!"

However, Lloyd had stopped listening; his father had started something ticking in his brain and a slow, evil smirk, one that was unlike any that Kratos had ever seen before, but he feared immensely, spread across his face.

"Hey Dad," Lloyd asked slowly, the evil, conniving smirk playing across his lips, "you know, now that you're Ratatosk, shouldn't you be acting more Ratatosk-y?"

"As it is you who got me into the mess, I do not see how I should have to change in any way." Kratos's eyes narrowed into a death glare, but Lloyd went unaffected.

"Yes, but now that the cat's out of the bag, we'd better make it convincing!"

"What exactly did you have in mind Lloyden?" asked Yuan from his chair, suddenly disturbingly interested.

Before Kratos could react, Lloyd was behind him, a hand planted firmly on his shoulder, holding him still, the other tugging gently at Kratos' auburn locks thoughtfully.

"Well, I'm thinkin' he needs different clothes, ya' know? Something more spirit-ly. When he went all Cruxis on us and came back wearing Judgment, it kinda made things more obvious. Know what I mean?"

"Like a physical embodiment of what he supposedly is now?"

"Um… depending on what "embodiment" means, yes!"

Kratos' eyes had grown comically wide as the two of them discussed his appearance. The idea that Yuan now supported Lloyd's insanity terrified him, as he knew that their combined forces might be enough to force him to go along with their plans.

"Hair dye," said a dreamy voice from behind, and Kratos, Yuan, and Lloyd turned in surprise to see Martel's green eyes glittering with mirth. "Silver-blonde, I think."

"With lowlights!" cried Lloyd, unsure of where he had picked up the term. "Goddess Martel, you're a genius!"

The Goddess nodded her thanks at Lloyd's compliment and Kratos realized how truly outnumbered he really was.

"If you even _debate-!"_ However, whatever Kratos' threat was to be, no one heard it as he was grabbed by this three companions and dragged to his doom.

………………

"I like it," said Lloyd thoughtfully as he examined his father's new apparel and appearance. "You definitely look spirit-ly and more intimidating."

"I suppose," Yuan tapped his chin and examined the glowering "Ratatosk Spirit". "I've seen worse."

"Your wife approves," Martel nodded, a devious smile gracing her green-tinted lips.

Kratos groaned as he examined his changed appearance, new for the second time in only a matter of a few months, and grimaced. He had never had a problem with his appearance; now he had been morphed nearly beyond recognition. His once deep auburn hair was bleached white-blond and had been artfully streaked with black. With a little mana, his red eyes had been sharpened and began to glow softly; according to Lloyden, the glow intensified.

His clothes had been exchanged for a black version of Judgment; all white turned to black, the belts turned to a deep red, and the red jewels turned diamond. He glared at the reflection and found, to his utter horror, that Lloyd's claim that his eyes glowed… was entirely accurate.

………………

"Lloyd Irving!"

Lloyd sighed and turned to see Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, Regal, and Sheena hurrying down the cobblestone streets of Meltokio toward him. Did he _ever_ get a break?

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I'm looking for Sacred Wood." Lloyd's eyes twinkled at his words.

"Don't you… wait, what?" Emil's eyes slipped from red to green and his tone lost its fury as Lloyd's words registered. "Sacred Wood?"

"You mean the stuff that they use for rituals at the Church of Martel?" asked Marta, "Why do you need that?"

Sheena and Regal both exchanged looks; Sheena's claiming that she was surprised and somewhat amused, while Regal's only showed a slight exasperation. Neither of Lloyd's old companions could ever believe that he was capable of going to the "Dark Side". Not that Emil and Marta knew that, however.

"That is none of your concern." Lloyd crossed his arms and did an uncannily accurate version of his father's Death Glare, resulting in Sheena holding back a bad case of the giggles, while Regal chuckled softly.

"What, did you lose your ring?" asked Regal in a tone that was difficult for Lloyd to read, he could have been teasing or serious and mildly concerned. With the elder man, Lloyd could never be sure, as his deep voice rarely changed emotion from one word to the next.

"Nope, got it right here!" In a rare show of friendliness, Lloyd pulled off the red glove that sheathed his right hand and showed the diamond ring that rested on his right ring finger. The ring was nothing large nor gaudy, consisting of merely a band of silver metal, aionis, melted into the correct form, with a small diamond set into it; the proof of the pact with Origin. "See?"

"Indeed, Lloyd."

"…Then why do you need Sacred Wood, Lloyd?" Sheena's eyes sparkled, as though she expected him to answer.

"That's for a different day, now I'm gunna' say a few more cryptic things and disappear to do the biddings of the Angel Lords!" In a single, graceful move, Lloyd pulled on his glove, spun on his heel and took off running in the directing he had been walking moments before, waving his now-gloved hand at them.

After a few long moments of silence when Lloyd's actions and words had efficiently sunk in, Sheena and Regal both doubled-over in laughter, the real irony of the situation causing them untold amounts of mirth, while Emil and Marta watched in utter confusion.

"…The hell…?" asked Marta, looking to the two elder parties of their group.

"Ahaha, dear Martel, Lloyd does do a good Kratos impression!" chortled Sheena, she was near tears now. "And-and the angels and everything-!" She was unable to continue her train of thought as another bout of laughter overtook her.

"Agreed," chuckled Regal, "though I am curious as to how Lloyd knew the term "cryptic"."

Regal's word's caused Sheena to laugh harder, the ninja had to lean against the nearest building in order to stop herself from collapsing on the stone streets.

"But why would Lloyd need Sacred Wood? And what does Kratos have to do with this?" asked Emil, looking at Marta oddly. "I don't get it."

"Neither do I…"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that Lloyd was simply joking. During our last Journey, Kratos was traveling all over Tethe'alla searching for Sacred Wood in order to craft the ring that Lloyd showed us. I am sure that he was merely trying to divert from his actual actions."

"Oh… I guess that kinda' makes sense… but wait, how come Kratos had to be cryptic, wasn't he with you guys? I thought he traveled with you…" Marta looked between the choking ninja and the slightly more composed President with wide, curious eyes.

"Again, that is something that you had best not concern yourself with. Perhaps one day you shall understand, however, until then, do not mind it."

With these words, Regal and Sheena resumed walking, both still choking back their amusement, and Emil and Marta, followed by Tenebrae, wandered behind.

"What do you think that was all about?" asked Emil softly to his female cohort.

"I've got no clue, but I think they're hiding something…" Marta's eyes followed the path made by to two old friends in front of them. "I wish they'd trust us…"

"Perhaps it is something that you are better off not knowing, Lady Marta. Have you considered that?"

Both teenagers glared daggers at the Centurion floating behind them, not wanting to hear that answer, nor be reprimanded as children.

"Shut _up _Tenebrae!"

* * *

**Short and filler-ish. Kratos needed another appearance change for his new role. It would, of course, be Lloyd that suggests this. Not much else to say…**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	44. In Which We Play

**Chapter 44**

**Last filler chapter, then I'm on to the plot, just need a little more preparation for what's to come; as for now you're getting lots and lots of monsters, a little bit of recap, and Yoshi's insomnia at its best!**

**Note: Monster POV.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or its Sequel. Or Kratos' new nickname, that's CommodoreZelda13's.**

* * *

"Can't touch me!" Tut smirked as he quickly leapt out of the path of the water jet that had just been sent spiraling his way from the mouth of a very irritated Eon. "Come on, Toad, you can do better than that!"

"Stand still you great brute and you'll get to see just how good I can do!"

Bounding back and forth, the two males created a show of water and light as they weaved together in a mass of greens and blues and silvers. Tut seemed to be one step ahead of his opponent; ducking and dodging the near-constant spray of water that followed only feet behind. It was a sight to behold, the Oannes and Orion facing off as they mock fought, and it was one that the two females did not waste.

"Get 'em Toad," growled Nero softly from the shade of one of the larger trees that surrounded the clearing that the monsters had claimed as their own upon arrival at the Giant Tree's resting place. Unable to remain passive as was the requirement of their allowance in Yuan's presence; the four monsters had opted to camp in the clearing. Kratos would bring them meals and Martel would often take them out to explore, but the majority of their time was spent in their own company. "That overgrown pooch has it coming to him."

"Agreed," Sophie grinned. As much as the three friends had been happy to see their forgotten fourth-wing, the large personality change that had come over him had been an amusing, if not annoying, change. The Orion had grown a large head upon his evolution into his final form could no longer walk, but _strutted_ as though he was the greatest thing that had ever existed.

In addition, he had saved all of their lives at the Remote Island Human Ranch, and, though he had been thanked by all parties, he had refused to let it drop.

"Eon'll never live this down if he loses," said Nero knowingly. "Tut's gonna' give it to him. I can tell already."

"Yeah, I think we need to find a way to shut him up once and for all." Sophie contemplated for a moment, however, when no brilliant scheme came to mind, she looked to her elder friend for suggestions. "What do you think Nero?"

"I think we should gag him, he's worse than the Toad!"

Nero watched in mock-disgust as Tut pinned Eon to the ground with his large forepaws and growled "say it!" while the Oannes made disgruntled croaking sounds.

"Never!"

"Say it!"

"Over my dead body!"

"That can be arranged."

Spell ruins appeared around the struggling pair; swirling symbols that were lost to all but Lord Ratatosk himself in a soft, white light. Lightning appeared over them and Tut howled and jumped out of the way as more lightning struck around the panicking Eon.

"Tut, stop it! Stop the spell you stupid mongrel!" Nero was shouting and Sophie tried to quietly coax the spell away from the terrified Eon.

"He _asked_ for it!"

"I don't give a damn who asked for it. You don't cast spells on your friends. Cancel the spell!"

"But-!"

"Tut, cancel the spell or you'll hurt Eon and Master Kratos will be very angry with you." Sophie, ever the voice of logic, was finally able to get though the thick skull of the Orion and the ever-increasing lightning fizzled out about them. The sky emptied of highly charged electricity and a shivering Eon was lead away by Nero.

"You guys are really boring!" Tut was pouting and still bounding around looking haughty. "He could have taken it!"

"Shut up you stupid mongrel, you could have really hurt him!" Nero hissed.

"Humph!"

Nero led Eon away, the Oannes actually grateful for his friend's help, and Sophie and Tut were left alone. The large silver and green creature stuck his tongue out through his sharp, pointed teeth somehow managing to look childish and menacing at the same time.

"Tut, you need to stop doing this. You're going to hurt someone."

Tut turned to see Sophie looking reproachfully at him; her black eyes bored into him like cool, dark pits. He spent a long moment thinking of nothing, staring into her eyes until her words sunk in. The reprimand stung coming from the child-like creature before him. Her form was more humanoid than any of the others, with long hair-like petals and a flower dress encasing much of her green form. Her thin legs seemed to be sheathed in pink and purple tights.

Despite her appearances, however, Sophie had become the most mature of their little band, never sinking to the level of the other three friends' banter and being ever more aware of her surroundings. Her magic abilities had become well developed, as had her hand-to-hand combat skills. Despite her age and innocence she had become a strong part of the team.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Tut rolled his eyes, throwing off the Alraune's words. "You just worry too much, he could have taken it, and I was just warning him!"

"Just don't."

………………

"_Kratos, I have been thinking that you need to return to Ratatosk's Knights. They are on the move again and having an insider would do us well. Unfortunately Lloyd and myself would not be trusted, however, your return-"_

"_I beg to differ, Yuan, I doubt they would favor my return."_

"_To them, you are Ratatosk; they would do as you say."_

"_Centurion Tenebrae knows that I am not Ratatosk, Emil is Ratatosk, he would not favor my return."_

"_He could not deny your return unless he wants to explain how he knows you're not Ratatosk even after he has apparently been encouraging the rumor."_

"_That's something that's been bugging me; why would he encourage it, I mean, you ran away, but he wants to keep Marta and Emil's faith in Ratatosk. But if they lost their faith in Dad, how would that work…?" _Lloyd asked, looking between the two older men.

"_I haven't the foggiest idea."_

Eon and Nero listened to the three men argue over Kratos' return to the Knights' party.

"What do you think? You wanna' go back?" Eon looked mildly surprised that Nero had asked his opinion.

"Don't know, it'll be nice to actually be back on the road and doing stuff, but the vacation's been fantastic."

"We'll get to see the others again."

"You just miss Isho," sneered Eon, albeit more kindly then he would normally have had as he owed the Gremlin.

"Shut up," growled Nero, "I know I won't miss Yuan."

"Amen." 

………………

It was some days later that Nero and Sophie were to be found watching Kratos and Lloyd train, their swords flashing in the warm afternoon sun. Kratos was by far the more terrifying of the two, but Lloyd's skills at the blade were fantastic; countering most of his father's attacks and even being flamboyant in his own way. Lloyd ducked and swerved just for the sake of his appearances while Kratos only moved when it was strictly necessary. Despite this, however, the entire show looked like a perfectly choreographed dance.

The Seraph could pull off the role of Ratatosk, both monsters knew that well, but his hesitance could make it obvious that he was acting. Whatever happened, in a few days, Kratos and themselves would try to once again become a part of the Knights of Ratatosk. They were still unsure of what this master plan to slip back into the group was, but if Kratos was Ratatosk it would surprise both females greatly if he was not allowed back in with honors.

For the time being though, they had been ordered to enjoy the last few days of their mini-vacation.

"Lloydie's definitely better at being an angel then he is at being a monster," commented Sophie as she watched the two angels train.

"Yup, I remember when he couldn't even cast a fireball, but he's pretty good with those swords," Nero nodded as Lloyd barely dodged a blow that could have numbed his hand. "I'm impressed."

"_Come on Kratatosk, you're a Summon Spirit! You can do better than that!"_

"_Lloyden…"_

Sophie and Nero were both laughing insanely at Lloyd's new nickname for his father: _Kratatosk._

"That's brilliant!" snickered Nero.

"Lord Kratatosk! I agree, we can even still call him "LK"."

"_Come and get me!"_

"_Don't you dare call me that again!"_

"_Kratatosk, Kratatosk, Kratatosk!"_

Sophie fell back giggling in hysterics and a few seconds later, Nero joined her friend.

While Lloyd was being cocky, Kratos was able to get a few painful hits in and soon Lloyd was on the ground, defeated.

"_What have I told you about not focusing?"_ growled Kratos in a soft, deadly voice. _"Hmm? Have I not reprimanded you for taunting in the past?"_

"_W-well, yeah, but this was just practice…"_

"_And if you do not learn during practice, the same mistakes will be made during battle and then your life is forfeit."_

The angel went on and on and it was several minutes later, when Yuan opened the door to call the males in, that Kratos finally relented.

"_Gentlemen- Do I want to know what you did this time Lloyd?"_

"_Nah, Kratatosk is just being sore."_

"_Good Gods, what will you think up next?"_

"_Lloyden, what did I just say?!"_

"_You said no taunting during battle. We're not _in_ battle anymore!"_

"_As I was saying," _Yuan cut across the bickering father and son, _"The Core detector picked up some strange readings if you'd like to come and see."_

"_Hmm? Uh oh, 'strange readings' usually means problems,"_ Lloyd rolled his eyes, _"What happened this time?"_

"_Tenebrae's reading just disappeared off the screen and Glacies' Core disappeared in Meltokio."_

Sophie and Nero exchanged a long look as Kratos and Lloyd did the same. The only way that Tenebrae's reading could have cut out would be if the Centurion had been reverted to Core form, and that could only happen if he had been killed. The two monsters followed the men inside as they moved through several rooms and down a flight of stairs to where Yuan kept the majority of his machines. Yuan directed them toward a large screen with a detailed map of the newly united world portrayed.

There were several brightly colored dots sending off strong signals that gave their positions. A bright yellow dot and a dark blue near Meltokio, a green dot and an aqua dot moving toward the Temple of Darkness, and two white and red dots showing their location. It was in fact true that there was no black dot and, therefore, no Tenebrae.

"_Then… Tenebrae's dead?"_ asked Lloyd, worry obvious in his voice.

"_No, he is a Centurion, he would simply have reverted into Core form and returned to his altar,"_ corrected Kratos. _"The World would know if it lost a Centurion. All of the dark elemental monsters would go into mourning."_

"_Mourning?"_

"_The monsters with a direct link to the Centurion would become inactive, then, once the mana levels were thrown off too much, they would all be destroyed or go mad."_

Nero and Sophie, both being dark-elementals, shivered at the half-elf's words. It was true that seeing Tenebrae… gone, had sent them both into a slight panic, however, the idea of them both dying or falling into madness… was terrifying.

"Are we going to be okay…?" whispered Sophie softly. "Nothing'll happen to us, right?"

Kratos looked down at his two first monsters; they had been with him for a very long time and the bond of monster and Knight was strong, sometimes unbreakably so. He could understand the fear that was coming off of the two in waves.

"_Do not worry, Tenebrae has not been destroyed. You shall both be fine."_

Despite his reassuring words, Sophie could not remove her eyes from the small green dot that was Ventus' Core moving toward the Temple of Darkness. Emil and Marta were headed there at that moment to revive Centurion Tenebrae.

They only hoped it would be successful.

………………

It had been decided that Kratos, Sophie, Nero, Eon, and Tut would leave the following day for Meltokio and return to the Knights. Lloyd was to go with him and help pull strings while Yuan remained behind and guarded the tree. This being their last night staying with Yuan, Martel, and Lloyd, they had thrown a small party. Kratos had made a large dinner for them to sup on and lights had been strung up in the numerous trees that surrounded Yuan's small home.

Though the festivities were cheerful, the atmosphere was anything but; all were in mourning of their soon-to-be-lost time together and the fact that the monsters were unable to communicate with Yuan made conversation strained. However, talk was kept forcibly light.

Eon and Tut, ever competing, were having an eating contest that which Eon, with his large mouth, was excelling at, though Tut was not far behind. Sophie sat on Martel's lap and chatted with the Spirit while she nibbled on her own food. Nero, Lloyd, and Kratos were all deep in discussion about the next day's plans while Yuan, still holding a grudge against the two females for the trick they had played at the Iselia Human Ranch, tried to keep up with a one-sided conversation.

"_We shall miss your presence around here. Things will be so boring,"_ commented to Spirit softly to Sophie. _"Unfortunately, little really happens around here. Though I suppose I should be thankful…"_

"Yes, we wouldn't want anything to happen to the little Tree. I'm sure that we'll come back after everything is done. I don't know what else we'd do…" Sophie picked over her food, not feeling particularly hungry. "We'll miss you too."

"_That is very kind little one."_

"Hmm…"

"_What is it, dear? You look so serious." _

"Oh, it's just that there's a full moon tonight…"

The Alraune's statement was true; a large, bright moon filled the sky; it cast a glow around the landscape, turning it to silver. The sight was beautiful.

Suddenly, Sophie felt light-headed and with a feeling a release, the buds on the top of her head burst into full bloom; the flowers were bright silver, the same as the light of the moon overhead. The bursting flowers atop her head sent down a rain of petals and when the plant-girl was able to see again, she saw the gaping faces of awe that surrounded her. Her friends, master, and Yuan were all eyeing the newly evolved Korrigan in wonder.

Martel was clapping softly behind her, and Lloyd "whooped" while Nero, Tut, and Eon all raced forward to congratulate her.

Sophie glanced down at herself self-consciously, to find that her once green-blue skin had turned a light purple and her body had enlarged. She turned her head from side to side, trying to look at all of her friends and once and felt an unfamiliar wind resistance; the petals fluttered around her face, resisting any movement.

"W-whoa…" was all she was able to utter, her head still hurt from the energy it had taken to grow the blooms. "I'm…"

"You've evolved! You look fantastic!"

"Congrats!"

"You look amazing, Soph, really!"

She looked up to see Master Kratos approaching, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"_Give her some room,"_ he commanded to the others. _"Congratulations __no apostrophie__, Sophie. Are you alright?"_

"Mmhmm, thanks Master Kratos. I'm alright."

Actually, she was feeling better than alright; she could feel power pulsing though her newly formed body. She felt she could take on the world.

* * *

**I swear, next chapter, the plot will pick back up.**

**Until then;**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	45. In Which Truth and Lies become Reality

**Chapter 45.**

**And we're off again. This is (obviously) a moment I've been building up to for several chapters. Some will be sad, some will be thrilled, but I suspect all will be pleased with the return of an actual plot.**

**Chapter 45, In Which Truth and Lies Become Reality: you shall find… Lloyd, Kratatosk, Ratatosk, Emil, Marta, Zelos, Lloyd, Alice, Seles, and… chaos.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia.**

* * *

All was not well in the Tethe'allen capital city; Lloyd was well aware of this when _he_ came running by. And, of course, by _he_ Lloyd was referring to… himself? Pure logic, had Lloyd any to his name, would have dictated that there was no way that Lloyd had just run by. However, when the red and brown blur ran past, Lloyd immediately did a double take, while his father just watched with wide eyes.

"Was that…?"

"What in the world…?"

Both Aurions stared for a long moment before unanimously turning and following the other… Lloyd.

This had not been part of the plan, not that the plan had been overly complicated. The overall idea had been to catch Emil and Marta when they were still emotionally distraught over the loss of Tenebrae and slip back into the group. Lloyd was only there to observe off to the side and intervene if necessary. In order to meet with the Knights, the father and son had traveled to Meltokio. They had not expected to see Lloyd running past.

This had to be one of the single strangest things that had happened thus far.

……………..

"Z-Zelos?!"

"Oh, hey, it's you, what are you doing here?"

"Zelos, it's your sister, she's been kidnapped by Lloyd!"

"Lloyd? What are you…?"

It was, at this point, when Lloyd, Lloyd, and Kratos raced passed the Chosen and the Knight, Lloyd and Kratos in pursuit of the other Lloyd.

"What the hell!?" Emil's eyes glittered red and Zelos, for once, had no answer. "There are _two_ Lloyds? And was that Kratos?!"

"Okay, I need to get back and see what's going on."

"I just told you what's happening, damn it!"

………………

Kratos and Lloyd chased the imposter, clone, or evil twin of Lloyd out through the main gates of the city in hot pursuit. Their parade caused many of the citizens to give them strange looks; often, the people that they knew would spend a long moment staring, before writing it off as the usual oddities that followed the hero of the World around. Lloyd, on the other hand, had to say that this was one of the stranger things that he had witness in his twenty years of life.

"Who the hell is this guy?!"

"Well, I am assuming he is not you."

"No shit Sherlock!" Lloyd glared at his father, the sarcasm was not appreciated.

"Language, Lloyden."

"Well, if he's not me, and he's not you, then who is he? And why is he running around looking like me?!"

"I believe we have just figured out why the citizens of both Palmacosta and Flanoir have claimed to see you destroying their cities when you were not."

It all fit into place; the sightings, him working with the Church when he was quite sure that he was not, why he was being blamed for destroying both Palmacosta and Flanoir. Everything made sense but the motive: why would anyone want to promenade around the world looking like him had to have a few screws loose, or want to really screw up his life. He did not have any enemies capable of that… that were still alive, that is.

"Even if that's true, this still doesn't make sense! Where do you think he's going?"

"Wings out!"

With no more warning than that, Kratos leapt to the sky, shining sliver-blue wings glittering behind as they fanned him into the air. Lloyd was but a wing-beat behind as both angels searched the landscape that slid further and further away as they flew higher.

"There!" cried Lloyd after a few minutes of looking, "he looks like he's meeting up with a bunch of soldiers!"

"They're Vanguard…"

So that was it, this imposter was with the Vanguard. A pointlessly complex plan to turn the World against the Church and, therefore, the Tethe'allen crown made itself clear in Lloyd's mind. From the look on his father's face, one of annoyed disgust, the truth had come to him as well.

Suddenly, something else caught Lloyd's eye.

"Is that Seles?!"

"The Chosen's sister?"

"That is her! They're kidnapping Seles! We have to stop them!" Lloyd began to dive, but Kratos caught him in midair and pulled his son upright.

"We cannot do anything now, it would be best to follow them back to their base and destroy it as well as well as save the Chosen's sister. Be reasonable."

"Reasonable?! They kidnapped her, we have to help her!"

"We will, but we must be strategic in our actions. In addition-think for a moment Lloyd!" he snapped suddenly, when Lloyd seemed to be rebelling once again and attempting to continue his dive. "In addition, we know that Emil and Marta are in Meltokio and with the Chosen of Tethe'alla who, I have no doubt, will go after his sister, bringing the two of them along. We must use this opportunity to reinstate my presence into the Knights."

Lloyd still looked as though he wanted to disagree, but he could not deny the logic.

"Do you not agree, Lloyden?" Kratos glared at his son, requiring an answer so the child would not run off when he least expected it. "Answer me!"

Lloyd looked up to meet his eyes, the set of his mouth defiant, but flinched when he met the elder man's eyes. He was unconsciously using the spell that Martel had placed on them to cause his eyes to glow when he glared. As much as Lloyd did not want to admit it, seeing his father look at him like that… it was terrifying. "Yes sir…"

"Ratatosk" seemed appeased, and the two continued to follow the small party of knights, Lloyd, and Seles as they wandered the plains that stretched between the two large forests in the area, moving south toward the Fuji Mountains and the Temple of Darkness.

They had been flying overhead for nearly an hour as the party below took a path through the Mountains, cutting the trip in half, when Kratos suddenly called over, "They're heading to Cape Fortress!"

"What?"

"Cape Fortress; when Tethe'alla was in decline, it was a secret safe-base for the Royal family. They would hide there as there was generally a Desian Ranch on the continent. The King could make decrees from safety while the Desians could not touch him."

"Smart…" muttered Lloyd, who could not fathom the idea of Tethe'alla being attacked by Desians; as far as he knew, this World had always been prosperous.

"It's been abandoned for several centuries now. The perfect location."

"Yeah, should we go on ahead and meet them?"

"No, continue to follow."

And so they did. It was another hour or so into the journey that anything happened; they reached the Fortress. The building was ideally built so that it would blend perfectly with the surrounding rocky hillside that it was built into. The only thing that could have given it away was that there was a large hole in the upper chamber, though it blended well, that was praising Martel. The sun would shine down during midday and the King could ask for guidance from the Goddess. The rest of the building was either underground or well disguised. Despite this, however, there was a fountain to greet guests and gold accents. This was indeed a King's palace.

The angels landed softly in behind the rocks to watch Lloyd, Seles and the Guard disappear into the main entrance.

"No guards?" scoffed Lloyd quietly. "Do they not expect us to-?"

"No, it is a trap," Kratos corrected softly. "Why do you think they took Seles? It was a lure to bring _you_ here. They may wish to trade the girl's life for yours, or, perhaps my own as they now believe that I am Ratatosk." He looked skeptically at his son. "What did you expect to find?"

"Honestly, I was just hoping that it wasn't going to be this. We should go in though the giant hole in the roof over there." Lloyd pointed toward the enormous skylight. "Then we'd at least have a bit of the element of surprise."

"Agreed. Let's move."

This time, Kratos did not bother to pull out his wings, but simply leap into the hole after sufficiently checking that it was free of Vanguard soldiers. It indeed was, and the blond angel landed gracefully, his black cape like false wings behind him as he descended. Lloyd landed much less gracefully beside his father; his knees buckling slightly and landing him in a crouch.

"Where do you think Seles is?"

………………

Zelos Wilder was, honestly, not one for accepting new people into his confidence too easily. He almost wished things were back to the way that they had been when he had been playing Lloyd, Cruxis, the Renegades, and most of Tethe'alla for himself; life had been more complicated, but no one wanted to know the real you. It was very different with the children that he was leading around now; both were in very vulnerable states, not trusting Lloyd, but unsure as to whether they should be or not. He could understand their misgivings; Lloyd had been far from the must trustworthy person as of late, but there was something that Zelos knew, and that was that Lloyd could be trusted. No matter what.

Still, it was incredibly obnoxious that these two expected to have his heart opened up to them just because they were going to help him save his sister. And, oh yes, these Vanguard bastards were going down for what they did to her. Every. Last. One.

He and the two kiddies had been left to their own ends when his voluptuous hunny had fallen down _another_ hole. This apparently being her fourth, Regal had disappeared looking for her leaving him to babysit. He did not appreciate this. The many bodies of now-deceased soldiers that they left in their wake could trace their trek through the Vanguard main base. It was tiresome.

Several long passages, pointless puzzles, and pep talks later, Zelos, Marta, and Emil emerged into a half-collapsed room and within, the strangest thing that Zelos would ever see him his life, including Seles telling him to join Mithos and help with the Age of Lifeless Beings: Lloyd fighting Lloyd while a dude with silver hair that looked, talked, sounded, and acted like Kratos but was not looking on.

"What the hell?" demanded Zelos softly.

"So, there really are two Lloyds… then one of them must be Decus!"

"Decus?" The Not-Kratos asked, turning his head to look at the three newcomers as Lloyd and Decus clashed swords loudly. "Ahh, the man from the Ranch…"

"K-R-um… Lord Ratatosk?" Marta eyed the man up and down. She seemed very unsure of how to react to the Spirit. "W-what are you doing here?"

"My, my, don't we look different…" Tenebrae smirked coolly.

"Be silent, Tenebrae," snapped Ratatosk, "I do not appreciate the sarcasm!"

"I apologize _my Lord,_ I did not realize you were in one of your moods…"

Tenebrae shut his mouth when Ratatosk turned his glare on the Centurion and Zelos could understand why; his eyes glowed when he glared, and with the red, it was terrifying.

"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt here, but what's going on?!" interjected the Chosen of Tethe'alla. "Which one's my Bud, and which one's smelly and where's my sister?!"

"…" The Spirit said nothing, eyeing Zelos with his eerie dark eyes, then he turned back to the show in front of him.

"Come on, give me a hand, help me beat this fake one once and for all!" cried one of the Lloyds as they separated.

"Don't be fooled, he's the imposter!" Suddenly, the first Lloyd jumped at the second and the brawl began again.

"If one of them is Decus, he should reek of the cologne…"

"Nah, that won't work, the scent is overpowering the room, and apparently Kratos over there isn't going to help us!" grumbled Zelos. "So, what should we do?"

"Oh, this is ridiculous! I've got a frickin' imposter and my father and one of my best friends can't tell which one's me!" howled what appeared to be the second of the two Lloyds. "Damn it, guys, come on!"

While the second Lloyd was ranting, the first had put his swords in the air as an act of surrender, "I trust all of you! I know justice will prevail and that you will make the right choice!"

Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and Zelos all stared on, unsure of which Lloyd was the right Lloyd.

………………

"_Be silent boy, your justice is not absolute!"_

"_Where do you get off? Don't even start spewing the word "justice"! I hate that word! If you wanted to save your wife, you should have resigned your position as Governor-General and searched for a way to save her on your own! Instead, you're just a worthless jerk who betrayed his city to the Desians!" Lloyd glared at the blond politician before him, his red-brown eyes narrowed in hatred._

"_Lloyd, please, stop! Not everyone is strong enough to stand up to the Desians!"_

………

The false Lloyd had just made a very bad move and, though it was unknowingly, blew his cover. Kratos watched the two identical men battle, however, simply by glancing at the mana signatures, it was plain to see which man was angelic and which was using some other means of disguise. Kratos, simply from watching, was starting to believe that there was a Core involved.

"Damn it!" Lloyd slashed out at the other him and the fake slammed into the ground some feet away.

"Guys, you know it's me! Please, get rid of the fake!" called the fake Lloyd. "Please!"

Suddenly, Emil was moving. "The fake Lloyd… is this one!" and he charged at the real Lloyd.

Before the Knight could make it, however, both Kratos and Zelos were standing protectively in front of the true Lloyd; guarding him from Emil with raised blades.

"Sorry kid, but you're wrong. I'd know my Bud anywhere."

"Indeed, the Chosen is correct. _That _is the fake."

Emil seemed to blush, but covered it quickly by lashing out at the imposter. Decus was tossed through the air and landed dramatically spread-eagle on top of a pile of rubble from the old, decrepit walls. He stood shakily, dragging a large iron maiden with him.

"So it really is Decus!" cried Marta, "Than it's been you who's been destroying all those cities and killing all those people!"

"Crap! You've found me out!" yelped Decus, "Man, that so did not go as planned!"

"Uh, you really expected it to?" snorted Lloyd, "Really? Plans _never_ go as planned!"

"Tut, tut, I wouldn't talk like that if I were you, Lloydie," the childish, sing-song voice of Alice simpered from the far side of the half-collapsed hall. "I'm still a little mad at you for what you did to all those lovely exspheres in the Ranch, and all the men you killed."

The group wheeled around to see Alice waltz in, dragging Seles by her arm.

"Alice," growled Zelos softly. "You little bitch!"

"Oh Chosen, watch your language, there are women present!"

"Z-Zelos, big brother, help me!"

Alice clutched Seles' arm tighter and the girl's pleas were cut off by a low groan of pain; Kratos could practically see the bruise forming. "How about we make a deal, hmm?" asked Alice sweetly. "You hand over Lloydie and Ratatosk, and all your Cores and we'll let dear little Sellie go free. Deal?"

"You had better do as my lovely Alice says, or you're dead," added Decus from his position, still balanced on top of the rubble.

"Shut up Dumbo-Decus!" snapped Alice.

"There's no way we're agreeing to _anything_ you say, you little horror!" cried Sheena as she appeared behind the Vanguard and Seles.

"Yeah!" cried Colette, who fluttered down from the ceiling next to her friend.

The two females grabbed ahold of Alice, dragging her away from the young girl as Zelos raced forward to grab his sister, Seles clinging to her elder brother in terror, the Chosen's arms shielding his sister from the world's dangers. Alice shrieked and began to slash, claw, and bit at the two friends, but they held on, eventually bringing the half-elf down with them.

"Alice!" hollered Decus, only to be knocked down by the appearance of Regal.

"Pardon me," said the blue-haired president politely as he placed one foot on top of the flamboyant man's back.

"W-wow, everyone's here…" Emil stared around at his new friends in surprise; they had all come to their rescue, pulling through when it mattered most…

Alice had managed to twist away from Sheena and Colette and was shrieking profanities at the angel and ninja while Decus was still downed by Regal. Both females supported scratches from their little brawl but little else; Colette, however, seemed focused on only one thing: Lloyd.

"Lloyd, are you alright? Are you hurt?" she called over. "I'm so sorry that we didn't get here earlier!"

"Don't apologize you dork! You totally saved us!"

Kratos raised an eyebrow; between he, Lloyd, and the Chosen of Tethe'alla they could easily have taken the two Vanguard, however, Lloyd seemed to be feeling friendly. Kratos had no doubt that he was pleased to see his friends as he had not seen them for several months.

"Are you alright?" Regal called over in a friendly fashion for someone who was forcibly holding down a struggling Decus.

"Yeah, we're good, Prez." answered Zelos, looking his sister over.

Suddenly, Alice made a break for it, back down the passage she had appeared from.

"Crap!" Lloyd, Colette, Sheena, and Regal, forgetting his place, gave chase and as the others were about to join in, Decus jumped in their way, brandishing a large blade threateningly.

"You're not going anywhere!" he cried. "I will protect my Alice with my life, I shall not fail!"

"Not fail?" growled Zelos softly, "You can't even put on cologne without screwing it up, what the hell makes you think you can touch us?!"

And a battle commenced.

………………

"Colette, hard left!" shouted Lloyd, and his angelic friend did as he commanded without so much as a second of hesitation; this was a routine born from sixteen years of trust and friendship. Yet, as Lloyd watched Regal and Sheena move perfectly in sync, he saw a similar bond between two who had known each other for only two years. That was what their journey had done for them; brought them closer together than a lifetime of knowledge could in just months.

Alice had lead the four friends into a trap; dozens of Vanguard soldiers awaited them when they had reentered the chamber with the skylight and they were forced to fight their way through what seemed to be miles of vicious, blood-thirsty men.

Lloyd slashed though another, coating himself in a layer of warm, sticky red while carefully making sure that Sheena and Colette, the two that were beside him were alright. Regal was behind, watching their backs while Alice roared out orders from behind.

"Demon Fang!" hissed Lloyd, first knocking one of the soldiers out of the way, then slashing them down with the side of his sword. Normally he was opposed to killing unless necessary, but now was no time to be sympathetic to a cause. They were going at him with murder in their eyes and he did not want to compromise himself for them. "Beast!" he sliced though another.

"Pyre seal!" shouted Sheena, sending a group flying backwards, smacking down several more. They did not rise.

"Dragon Dance!"

"Paraball!"

They progressed smoothly though the room until the few soldiers that were still left standing began running in the opposite direction and Alice was left standing alone at a dead-end as four murderous friends advanced on her.

"Damn, this doesn't look good…"

………………

Decus who, at one point, had been easily defeated by Kratos or, rather, Ratatosk, was now proving that he was much more of a threat then they had originally anticipated. His huge sword cut though their offence and defense alike and Kratos and Zelos had both had to slip back to add healing assistance to Marta while the other and Emil distracted and wore down the swordsman.

The battle wore on and Kratos had slipped back to assist with the growing injuries, wondering how a mere human, not to sound like Mithos, could defeat them, when he saw it. A little red stone attached by gold ore to Decus' hand: an exsphere. Apparently the twosome had not come away from Rodyle's Ranch empty-handed. He could understand the increased skill level and better endurance now. It was, he believed, time to fight fire with fire.

"Marta," he snapped suddenly, "guard me while I cast!"

"Guard you? Uh, okay Kra-um… Lord Ratatosk." Marta took up a defensive position in front of the Ratatosk Spirit.

"Sacred powers…" chanted Kratos softly.

"_I believe," began Yuan slowly, "that only certain beings will be able to see Kratos' true self. Whatever spell has been placed on him, it was only set to effect the general public. Powerful beings like myself, a mage and an Angel, Lloyd, the Eternal Swordsman, and Tenebrae, a Centurion, can overcome the seal."_

"Cast your purifying light…"

"_So, what about the average angel?" asked Lloyd, looking at his uncle questioningly. "Colette couldn't, but could Zelos?"_

"_Perhaps, if Kratos outright told them, and perhaps worked very hard to convince them."_

"upon these corrupt souls…"

"_So he could pull out his wings and everything, but no one would put two and two together until he outright told them?"_

"_Correct."_

"Rest in peace sinners… _**Judgment!"**_

The beams of Judgment fell upon Decus' body, sending him screaming to the ground in pain. The white light blazed from the heavens, erupting in a mass of glittering power as they hit the ground. Decus was down, defeated and he, Kratos, was being gapped at by Emil, Marta, and Seles while Zelos looked on, a dangerously suspicious look in his sapphire eyes.

"W-what was that spell, it was insanely powerful…" whispered Marta. "That was incredible!"

"So that's Ratatosk's true power," said Emil, awe filling his voice.

* * *

**And I'm going to leave it there, at another wonderful cliffie. Hope you enjoyed the actual plot, it may just be the end of the world… **

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	46. In Which They are Together Again

**And… TIME SKIP!!!**

**Oh yes, this is picking up in Sybak so I can keep things moving, though the whole thing will be a lot of flashbacks so we know what's going on. It should be fun. Flashbacks in their usual format, I think you can handle it. **

**Chapter 46: In Which They are Together Again… Nerds, Kratatosk, Emil, Marta, psycho-Ratatosk-mode, wimpy knights, Lloyd being a bastard, and traitors. All is going according to plan, but how long can Kratos pretend to be an almighty Summon Spirit around if Sheena's there?**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi still doesn't own Tales of Symphonia or Dawn of the New World.**

* * *

The inn room was very empty. It was odd that, for once, he did not have to share; Emil and Marta had insisted that they could room with Regal and Sheena, the only two, besides himself, of the original group who had agreed to continue with the Knights. Therefore, Kratos was alone, at least for the moment. His return had been bittersweet; though both seemed happy to have him back, Emil and Marta both were very angry with him, thinking that he had been lying to them for months about not being Ratatosk, though it was now that he was lying. Every waking minute, which were the dominant, was spent adjusting his actions so that the charade might be held.

Sheena and Regal, neither of which had known Kratos particularly well, however, both had traveled with him long enough to at least be able to recognize him. Thought it was much more likely that he was Ratatosk then _their_ Kratos Aurion.

Actually, the only person, or, rather, being, that did not seem totally thrilled with the return of "Ratatosk" was Tenebrae. Kratos did not blame the Centurion, he doubted the Centurion had actually been intending to have Kratos pretending to be Ratatosk and had had his cryptic words turned on him. There was a part of Kratos that felt very smug about this turn of events.

It was ironic, really, that without the Vanguard, Kratos would never have been able to rejoin the group. After defeating Decus, they had raced after Lloyd and the others, only to find them in a graveyard of broken Vanguard bodies advancing on a panicking Alice. After a few threats and idle minutes of talk, Decus appeared above and saved the half-elf. When the group had spun 'round to give chase, they had found Richter awaiting them, blocking the door.

Emil had been distraught, however, between the others they had taken the man down in a matter of seconds, his hisses about how he would kill "Ratatosk" coming out between Lloyd hacking at him, Regal kicking, Emil slashing, and Sheena finally summoning Gnome on the man. That was when things had gotten very, very strange.

After the large gopher-like Spirit had rid them of the problem, namely Richter, he had turned and, in his mildly odd way, Gnome had _winked_ at Kratos. The Summon knew that Kratos was _Kratos_, and not Ratatosk.

"_Hey, 'sup Aurion? Long time no see! Nice to have you back, Buddy, things were boring without you!"_

Kratoscould still not believe that this seemed to only instill the idea of his being Ratatosk in the minds of the others. Gnome had not given Kratos a chance to ask any questions, but disappeared in a puff of earth mana. Lloyd was laughing silently in the back of the party.

Lloyd, however, did not get off easily either, what with his newly acquired criminal record, double, and mysterious agenda, Sheena, Colette, Regal, Zelos, and Seles all begged to be let into his confidence. Lloyd would have none of it and only shook his head when asked. He was pestered, poked, and, in Emil's case, apologized to and took it all with a silent glare. Kratos could tell, though, that it was difficult for him to deny his friends.

It was several minutes later that the group reached the far exit and the true drama began:

"_Lloyd, please, tell us what you're doing! We want to help!"_

"_Yeah, Lloyd, if you haven't been destroying cities, then my hatred is for Decus and not you. Please, let us help you!"_

_Lloyd had stood there for a long moment, and Kratos feared that Lloyd, being the soft-hearted person that he is, would agree with the Knight's terms, however, after a moment, he had turned to Emil, a foreign glare on his face. "Fine then, if you truly wish to help me, than hand over your Centurion's cores!"_

_Lloyd's request was met with shocked silence from his friends and outbursts of rage from Emil and Marta. Kratos stood off to the side, waiting for his moment to intervene._

"_Lloyd-! No. We work for Ratatosk… um… Kratos, and we aren't going to let you take the Cores!" Emil glared._

_This was his chance; "The boy is right, Lloyden, give _me_ the Cores. They are mine."_

_Lloyd looked positively mutinous. In all reality, Kratos knew, the plan was moving smoothly, he only hoped Tenebrae would not interrupt… _

"_No," there was a hint of danger to Lloyd's voice. "I have plans for these Cores, why the hell should I give them to you?"_

"_W-what are you saying, Lloyd, what are your plans?!" cried Colette._

"_That is none of your concern!" snapped Lloyd, "All you need know is that the Cores are tucked away safely, and they will remain there."_

_Now that Lloyd had established himself as the enemy, it was time for Kratos to openly switch sides._

"_So, you are going back on our deal?" he hissed, knowing by Lloyd's slight shudder that his eyes were glowing. "Hand over the Cores, boy!"_

"_Pfft, screw you Lord Ratatosk!" and with no more farewell, Lloyd released his Rheiard from his wingpack, boarded, and was off, leaving Kratos to reinstate himself into the Knights._

"_Damn that brat," growled Kratos softly._

Ah irony, disgusting, disgusting irony. They had returned to Meltokio only to find themselves leaving again, short not only Lloyd, but Zelos, Colette, and Seles. Their first goal had been the Temple of Earth to locate Solum's core, however, they had found the entrance to be blocked by the King's Knights, the men saying something about the Temple having collapsed and their trying to clean it out. Apparently, it was far too dangerous for the general public to enter.

However, their visit resulted in an unexpected collapse by Emil; the boy screaming in pain as he fell to his knees. Moments later the red-eyed boy was lying unconscious on the dirt-covered floor of the Temple and it took them only seconds to grab the boy and rush him back to the inn in Meltokio.

Kratos was the only one who understood that Emil's sudden lengthening bouts of "Ratatosk Mode" and mood swings was only Ratatosk's power reinstating itself into a new host. He knew that it would be a painful process as it reminded him, ever so slightly, of angelic transformation. Still, he felt a small amount of worry for the boy and spoke to Tenebrae about it.

"_Ah, Lord Ratatosk, how are we this evening?"_

"_Tenebrae, I wanted to ask you about Emil."_

"_Hmm, both yourself and Lady Marta as well. This is merely a stage in Lord Ratatosk's manifesting power. Painful but necessary; it shall pass in time."_

"_And when the power manifests? What shall then happen to Emil?"_

"_Lord Ratatosk will take control of Emil and return to full power-"_

"_Emil will be no more."_

_At Kratos' statement, Tenebrae looked away, "In a word… yes."_

So, it was true, he had not wanted to believe it, however, the proof was in front of him as he had watched Emil wake in Ratatosk Mode and remain that way for some time. During the duration, however, only Marta had been present. When the two had emerged from Emil's room, he had returned to normal and immediate plans had been made that the group of five should travel to the Temple of Lightning in order to search for Tonitrus' Core.

This had also ended badly. Upon their arrival a day later, they found the place overrun with soldiers from the Sybak Academy, they were ordered to leave. Emil, unfortunately, did not take it well.

"_What the hell do you mean you're not letting us in?!" growled the red-eyed Knight as his hand latched onto the front of the man's steel armor. "I don't give a damn if you don't want us in there, move!"_

"_Emil! Emil, stop it!" Marta cried as Emil slammed the first Knight into the other, sending them both tumbling dangerously close to the edge of the slim pathway deeper into the Temple. He then proceeded to grab the same man and dangle him over the side of the path._

"_You going to let us through now, hmm?" The man stuttered incoherently and Emil laughed cruelly. "That's what I thought… Now, the only thing left to decide is what to do with you…" The man squealed like an over-sized pig and Kratos could hardly blame him; Emil looked ready to drop him over the edge._

"_Emil! Kra-Lord Ratatosk, you have to stop him!"_

_Kratos had nearly jumped at his new title and then swore mentally; there was no way that he would be able to control the Knight, especially one who knew he was not Ratatosk… Still, he had to try _something_…_

"_Emil, put the man down."_

_Those cold, red eyes fixed on him, and Kratos glared back, for once hoping that Lloyd's red-eye mana treatment had worked… _

"_And why the hell should I listen to you, old man?!"_

"_Emil, calm yourself, you are letting your anger get out of hand."_

_Emil seemed to visibly relax, and he put the man down a few feet from the edge where he skittered back toward his friend. Both men were shaking. There seemed to be a small fight inside Emil's head, then he blinked and Emil's eyes were soft green again._

"_W-what happened?"_

"_What do you mean "what happened"?! You nearly killed those men!" cried Marta._

_Both Sheena and Regal had watched in silent morbid wonder, they both knew something, or thought they did, that Kratos, Marta, and Emil were unknowledgeable about. This worried Kratos._

"_What in the world is going on out here?!" cried a new voice from much deeper in the Temple. A large man in scholarly robes with a shock of red hair came thundering down the passage looking upset. "Is there a problem?"_

_It was time for the "Heroes" to take over, and that is precisely what Regal and Sheena did. "Pardon us," began Regal politely, "you see, we have business further in the Temple, and our friend and your guards got into a bit of a fight and…"_

"_D-Duke Bryant!" Kratos had to admit, having a Duke with them was, at times, useful. "We apologize for the misunderstanding. Please, I am director Schneider, if you would be so kind as to go to Sybak, I will be along in a few days and then we can discuss what it is that you need from the Temple of Lightning. You see, the mana has been causing perpetual lightning storms in Sybak and we came to do some studies to right the situation."_

_Regal and Sheena nodded and began to heard Emil and Marta out of the Temple, Kratos trailing behind. Suddenly, Schneider caught sight of Emil and froze, recognition lighting in his eyes. "My Gods… Aster?" For a long moment, Schneider stared at Emil, as though trying to will an answer from him, however, Emil did not even turn from Marta leading him away. Then, Schneider caught sight of Kratos watching him and turned away with a stuttered apology._

They had returned to Sybak and the females and males to their rooms respectively. Kratos, getting a room to himself, sat quietly on his bed, a book that he had borrowed from the library upon their entering the town open on his lap. He was only mildly interested in the text, something, he realized a few sentences in, was written by himself, so he took to rereading and locating his mistakes simply for the sake of keeping his mind off what he was doing.

He had been sitting idly like this for some time when a knock on the door startled him from his disinterested studies.

"Kra-R-Ratatosk, It's Marta and Emil, can we come in?" Both children had been uncomfortable and embarrassed around Kratos since his return, though he tried to act the same, or as "same" as he could be while acting like a Spiritly version of himself…

"Of course." When both children entered, their eyes were fixated with their feet in what Kratos assumed they found a respectful manner. He shut his book and eyed the two with a combination of mild sadness and amusement; he could not help but feel the wildly contrasting emotions. "What is it?" Kratos' voice was soft and kind, or as kind as his voice could be.

"Permission to speak freely?" asked Marta, her voice confident, but with a waver of fear.

For a long moment, Kratos said nothing, then softly, he sighed and stood, walking over to where they stood. He rested a hand on each of their shoulders and said softly, "You need not ask my permission."

Both Emil and Marta's heads shot up to look at Kratos with skeptical eyes.

"R-really?"

"Of course."

For a moment that seemed to be just that, Marta stared at Kratos and seemed to almost have gathered enough of her wits to speak when Emil burst out suddenly, "Why did you lie to us?!"

Kratos and Marta turned to face the blond Knight with identical confusion written in their eyes.

"What?"

"Emil…"

"Why did you lie to us? You said all those things about being Lloyd's dad and being a half-elf and everything, but you're really Ratatosk. Why didn't you tell us who you were? Did you think we wouldn't be able to handle it? Or that we would betray you? Didn't you think you could trust us?!" There were tears in Emil's eyes. "We trusted you! We couldn't have gotten this far without you and then you betray us and leave and come back with Lloyd! What were you thinking? Why did you-? ...How could you just abandon us like that…?"

Kratos felt dozens of emotions welling up inside of him, the answers to Emil's questions were for more complicated then the child could understand right now. He had, once again, wrapped himself so tightly in his lies that there was no way out. He sighed and put a hand on Emil's shoulder. "Emil, the things I told you were true, I _am_ Lloyd's father, however, there were certain… circumstances that have changed. I did not tell you that I was Ratatosk because I did not think it necessary to add more stress on your shoulders. I do trust you, but I had to see what my son was doing. I needed to know what was happening. I did not mean to abandon you. I apologize for the pain that I caused you, both yourself and Marta, but I am proud of how far the both of you have gotten without me."

The last part was something that was only half-true, he felt like he was acting too… _fatherly_, something that he most certainly should not be feeling with Emil and Marta. Emil was Ratatosk, and Marta a young girl that had gotten herself in far over her head.

"B-but then why did you have to yell at Lloyd to give the Cores back?"

"Let me first ask you this; if Lloyden and I were on good terms, would you have let my presence back into your party?"

Emil and Marta glanced swiftly at each other and back at Kratos, discomfort plainly written. He could practically see the thought processes as they were happening; answer honestly or make themselves out to be loyal to Ratatosk…?

Finally, "No," said Marta slowly, "even after we found out that Lloyd wasn't the one who hurt those people, he was still acting like the bad guy. If you were still on his side, we wouldn't have been able to let you back in."

"Precisely. I do not agree with all that Lloyd is doing, however, I do trust his actions with the Cores. He has something planned, someone he is working for. In the end all of the pieces will fall into place, but until that time, I am needed here. Do you understand?"

It was, Kratos realized, the first time that he had ever asked that question in all of the times that they had questioned them. It seemed, however, that they did and Emil turned to leave. "Thanks Lord Ratatosk, really. Come on Marta, let's go."

"Wait… There's something I wanted to ask Lord Ratatosk about, I'll catch up to you in a second, okay Emil?"

"R-right, okay Marta. Kra-Lord Ratatosk, it really is good to have you back."

With that and a small, shy smile, Emil turned and walked out. Kratos watched his receding back until the door blocked him from view, then he listened to the boy's light footsteps.

After a moment, he turned back to Marta; the girl was not looking at him.

"He is very fond of you," was all he said.

Marta blushed madly, "T-thanks, I mean… I know, but… I-it's nice to hear and all…"

Kratos watched her stutter along for a moment before softly placing a hand on her shoulder; she looked up, "What is it that you wanted to ask me?"

"I-I was just wondering… why is Emil in Ratatosk Mode so much? He never used to lose control, but lately he's been slipping in and out of it for longer periods of time, especially since you left… is that what's causing it?" There was genuine worry in her eyes.

"No," stated Kratos simply, "Ratatosk's power is manifesting. He will be fine."

It was a lie, but it was all he could offer, reiterate what Tenebrae had started. That was all he could do.

"O-oh, right. I guess I'm just worrying about it too much… What about the memory lapses, will they go away too?"

"With time…"

"Thanks Lord Ratatosk!" Marta smiled, reassured, "See you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight Marta, sleep well." Kratos smiled slightly, "And Marta, Kratos will do just as well."

………………

"It's done."

"What's done?"

"What are you talking about Yuan?"

Martel and Lloyd looked up from their game to look curiously at the blue-haired half-elf. Martel tilted her head to the side in a way that made Yuan have to look at Lloyd for fear of causing himself untold amounts of pain.

"Your project. It is complete."

"My… What, really?!"

"Would I lie?" snapped Yuan. "It's done, all we need is to extract the final pieces and we are ready for the operation. Though I'm still not sure this is a good idea…"

"That's fantastic! What else do we need?"

As Yuan listed off the necessary materials Lloyd realized just how difficult the job would still be despite the progress that they had made… The world was worth it though. All the pieces were falling into place.

* * *

**Well, that was obnoxious, but it saved a lot of time on pointless back-and-forth that would otherwise have taken anywhere from two to three chapters. Hope it wasn't too terrible.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	47. In Which There is Much Irony

**Chapter 47**

**This chapter ended up being more troublesome then I thought it would be. I got halfway done with another version and realized that not only was it crap, but it got me absolutely nowhere. This version, though less humorous, is perfect.**

**So, chapter forty-seven holds half-elves, multiple personalities, irony (lots and lots of irony), Lloyd, Kratatosk, Sheena, Regal, and a very, very nasty scientist.**

**Disclaimer: Sigh, nope, no luck stealing rights… Still don't own.**

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Emil was angry again. Apparently he had become furious over some trivial thing and slid into Ratatosk mode. What made it worse was the fact that all he, Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, Sheena, Regal, and the monsters had to do at the moment was wait around the Sybak Academy for the return of Director Schneider and permission to enter the Temple of Lightning. Their idle waiting seemed to irk Emil even more as his worries of Lloyd obtaining the Cores before himself danced in his head; he was becoming a horror.

"What the hell is there to do in this city?!" he growled loudly as the party all sat around in the lobby of the inn in Sybak.

"Read, learn, study, what more do you want?" hissed Kratos back, turning a page in a book that he, after picking up, realized that Yuan had written centuries ago. Something about the mana theories used during the Kharlan War and how they could be bettered.

"We shouldn't be sitting around, we should be getting Core!" grumbled the boy from where he sat on the ground next to Marta, letting the adults take the chairs. Due to the electrical storms that raged over the city, the usually limited tourism had shrunk to a mere trickle and they were the only guests in the building, therefore, they had the lobby mostly to themselves.

"How odd," comment Regal lightly, "you always struck me as the type to enjoy learning, Emil."

"Humph!"

"I guess that's one of the differences between Ratatosk Mode Emil and normal Emil."

Kratos watched their conversation silently, wondering why Marta seemed so saddened by the conversation. Her eyes were dark and distracted as they reread the same page over and over in her thin novel.

"I want to get out there and get the Cores, not sit around and _read_ about them!"

"We cannot do anything until we receive word from the Elemental Research Academy that Director Schneider has returned," said Regal patiently. Kratos found it very impressive that the man could handle Ratatosk Emil with such good graces. If he were being addressed as such, Emil would not have lasted very long. However, it seemed even Ratatosk Emil did not wish to anger "Ratatosk" as every word that Emil said to him was with an air of slightly increased politeness.

"Where is the Elemental Research Academy?" asked Marta; Kratos could tell that she wished to change the subject, though it was well hidden.

"It's on the edge of town, kind of a dark place, we've been there a couple of times before," Sheena informed them. "On our last Journey."

"With Lloyd?" growled Emil.

"With Lloyd." Sheena confirmed firmly. "I remember he, Presea, Colette and Zelos all got thrown in the basement for treason while Raine and Genis were being taken back to Meltokio to be hanged. I had to sneak in and save them, then Kate helped us get out using the secret passage through the bookshelf." The ninja's eyes glazed with nostalgia. "That was back when they just got to Tethe'alla too… and Colette was…" She sighed. "Some good look at the city they got."

Regal looked thoughtful. "I do not believe that I had met you yet…"

"You hadn't, remember? We had to sneak back into Meltokio through the sewers and that's when we first met; you jumped on Zelos' back when he was being cocky."

"Ahh, yes! What was it that Lloyd and Zelos said…? I always did find that funny…"

"Oh!" Sheena's eyes lit, then she slipped into a very bad impression of the Chosen of Tethe'alla. "Lloyd, if you abandon me, I swear I'll come back to haunt you!"

"I just had a sudden strong urge to abandon you!" Regal replied and the two old friends burst into peals of laughter at their fond memories. "My, it has been a long time since I thought about that!"

"Um… sorry to interrupt your trip down memory lane, but maybe we should check to see if the Elemental Research Academy got a message from Director Schneider," Marta suggested. "It's better than sitting around here all day…"

"I agree with Marta, let's get out of here!" Emil jumped to his feet.

"Well, I see no problem as long as Lord Ratatosk-err… _Kratos_ does not mind," agreed Regal.

When Kratos merely shrugged and closed his book to stand, Emil turned and sprinted out the door, Marta close behind.

They reached the Academy a few minutes later and, because Emil and Marta were a little ahead, running like the children they were, they nearly hit a researcher leaving the building.

"Hey, watch it-! …Aster?!"

The researcher was dressed in the usual white lab coat and dark pants and shirt underneath, however, his clothes all seemed to be a bit too small for his rather portly figure. He wore thick, black glasses that seemed to like sliding down his small nose and rather greasy blond hair. Overall, a specimen of man who spent far too much time in the lab and not nearly enough with personal grooming supplies.

"O-oh, sorry Mister!" Marta said as she and Emil skirted the man. "We're really sorry, we'll be more careful."

"Hey watch it- I mean, yeah… sorry," Emil said hesitantly as Marta stepped on his foot, hard.

The man did not notice the display, nor did he seem to hear their apologies; he seemed to be staring at Emil was shocked eyes. "A-Aster?! You're alive! I _told_ you hanging out with that half-elf was a bad idea!"

Emil's brow furrowed. "What the hell are you talking about? Who's Aster??"

"You're Aster!"

It was then that Kratos, Regal, and Sheena made it to the strange group of three.

"What are you talking about?! I'm not Aster!" Emil was getting angry again; his red eyes flashed, and it had nothing to do with the lightning flickering above their heads.

"What's going on here?" asked Sheena.

"This guy thinks Emil's someone called 'Aster'." Marta filled the others in on the strange occurrence.

"Of course he's Aster! He looks just like him! Are you his friends?"

"I'm not your damn Aster!" howled Emil, but the scientist did not even acknowledge his words.

"Is it true that Richter killed you while you were looking for that Summon Spirit Ratatosk?"

"Do I _look_ dead?! I'm not Aster!"

"_Richter? Ratatosk?_ You guys are researching _Ratatosk_ here?!" asked Marta in surprise.

"Sure, we research all the Summons here, we've even managed to make an artificial Spirit, Corrine. Ratatosk was Aster's pet project, right Aster? Have you heard? Rilena took up your notes after you died-eh, vanished. She's been keeping the research on the Cores and Ratatosk going for you!" The researcher grinned like he knew "Aster" or, rather, Emil, would be pleased with this pronouncement. "Isn't that great?"

"Um, sir? He's not Aster, this is Emil."

"W-what?"

"Calm down," commanded Regal as the scientist seemed to be hyperventilating, "I am Regal Bryant, Director Schneider sent us here to wait for him, we were wondering if he had sent a message for us."

"Uh…" The man's eyes widened as he surveyed the impressive figure of the Lezareno President. "I-I think a message came in for you, something about the Temple of Lightning, right? Yeah," he said when Regal nodded, "he said he should be back later today if you want to wait around town just a little more…"

"Thank you, that is all we need then. We'll just wait inside. Come along everyone."

The man watched as a rather awkward moment took place where Regal stepped out of the way to let Kratos, Ratatosk, and Sheena through first, and Sheena waited for Kratos who gestured for her to go ahead. She shook her head, trying to be polite to the "Summon Spirit", and Kratos was, hesitantly, forced to acknowledge her offer. He hated being Ratatosk.

As they passed by the man, Kratos heard him whisper, "You look _just_ like Aster…" Kratos fixed his eyes on the man, and, when red eyes met watery gray ones, the man silenced and looked away.

_Aster,_ Kratos had heard that name before. He was Richter's friend, the one that had had been killed by Ratatosk. Kratos had not realized that Ratatosk had based his Emil look off of the man that he had killed, nor that Richter had been blamed for the sins committed by Ratatosk. It was no wonder why he wanted Ratatosk dead.

Revenge could be a strong motive; Kratos knew from experience.

"I wonder who Aster is…was, and if he really looked that much like Emil…" said Marta as they looked around the large lobby area of the Elemental Research Academy. The room was huge with a high, domed ceiling and large dragon skeleton dominating the majority of the room. Several halls and doorways, as well as a staircase, lead from the room deeper into the sprawling building.

"Who knows, but from what he said, I guess they're still keeping with their half-elf prejudice," growled Sheena.

"It is difficult for people's beliefs to change at a whim, unless there is a large, visible factor taken into account," Regal comforted.

"Oh, and the worlds reuniting isn't big enough!?" she shot back. "If you ask me, that's pretty damn big!"

"What does half-elf prejudice have to do with reuniting the World?" asked Marta, once again cutting across Regal and Sheena's conversation.

If you only knew… Kratos felt a huge sense of irony set as he watched the ignorance of Emil and Marta on display. Where did half-elf prejudice _not_ affect the World's separation?

"Everything… nothing…" Sheena sighed softly, "I wonder if they're still locking half-elves up downstairs…"

"Well, we have awhile until Director Schneider returns, perhaps we should check."

There was a mutter of general agreement amongst the other party members and Regal and Sheena lead the way through the maze-like halls of the Academy toward the basement. Shortly after their journey began, however, Regal approached Kratos who was walking slightly behind the rest of the group.

"How much do you know of the World Regeneration?" asked the President, looking curiously at Kratos. "You are a Summon Spirit; however, I am unsure if your power was used during the separation of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant."

"I know of everything; Mithos, Martel, the Church, and the Eternal Sword." Kratos had been so surrounded by lies as of late that he found it was much preferred to be honest, and here, the truth would hurt no one but himself. "Mithos made the pact with Ratatosk first, he-I-was the Spirit of the Kharlan Tree and, therefore, an obvious choice for the Pact-Maker. I was already sealing the Ginnungagap so my powers could not act as a Chosen's seal. My pact was not necessary to reunite the worlds."

"The Ginnungagap?"

"The gateway between this realm and the realm of Demons." It was at times like this when ancient knowledge of the World's power came into use; pretending to be Ratatosk without this knowledge would have been difficult.

"I see. It must be… difficult to return to the world with it so warped," he sympathized.

"…" "Warped", it was _his_ fault that the world was so warped, yet here was Regal sympathizing with him. The ironies of Fate were never-ending. "…Indeed."

Regal opened his mouth to say more, but stopped. They had, much to Kratos' relief, reached the heavy door that lead to the basement prison and their conversation was cut short.

"Well, this is the place," Sheena put her hands on her hips and glared at the door, as if it was _its_ fault the half-elves inside were rarely released. "Let's head inside."

"W-wait," said Marta, taking a hesitant step back, "You mean we actually have to go in? Where half-elves have been?"

"Oh no! Really, not you too!" Sheena looked horrified. "You're friends with Raine and Genis, how can you say stuff like that?!"

"I know it's not fair, but I've always been taught that half-elves are horrible, nasty, and mean. I mean, look at the Desians!"

"B-but…" Sheena sighed.

"All Desians are half-elves; therefore all half-elves must be Desians. That is the logic, however, there are many half-elves who hate the Desians or have lost as much at their hands. The goal was revenge; to strike fear into the hearts of those who first scorned them. A vicious cycle that started long before the wars of old. "Desian" and "Half-elf" and not synonymous." All looked behind in surprise to stare at the silver-haired Spirit who had spoken. At their questioning stares Kratos said simply, "I once met an idealist, a half-elf, who worked to save the World one day at a time. Ultimately, I believe that he and his companions failed to reach their goals, yet his beliefs still hold this world."

It was true; Mithos, Kratos, Yuan, and Martel had failed to save the World. Destroyed it more than even the Kharlan war could have, but helped in every way possible now. Mithos, though dead, would always live in the things that he had said and taught, be them good or bad.

"Well put," Regal complimented. "The half-elves kept here were not experimenting to torture, but to teach. Think of it this way, without their valuable research Colette would be… for lack of a better word, dead."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a long story," Sheena cut in. "Anyway…"

"Can we just go in already?" demanded Emil, apparently sick of being ignored and bored of standing talking.

The door was not locked, much to their surprise, and the group was able to simply walk in. The room was just as it had been two years ago, though it was empty of workers half-elf or otherwise. Computers, tables covered in research, large machines covered in monitors, blinking lights, knobs, and nozzles.

"This is where they locked up half-elves and forced them to work for years…" murmured Sheena.

"Tragic," agreed Regal.

"How could anyone do anything so inhumane?" whispered Marta.

"That's the thing, they weren't human, so most people figured the human rules didn't apply. Cheap labor, you know?"

"Oh-! Emil, are you okay?"

Emil was standing, simply staring at one of the machines; he jumped when he heard his name, and turned to face the others. There was confusion in his green eyes. "W-where are we?" he asked softly, looking around at his four companions, "W-when did we get here?"

"A-are you alright Emil? We just got here, remember? We're at the Elemental Research Academy and came down to the basement for… for stuff. We're waiting for Director Schneider to come back…" Marta's eyes were dark with worry for her friend. Kratos could understand; Emil's sudden memory lapse had him concerned as well.

"Perhaps you are simply tired, maybe you should go back to the inn and rest. We'll send a message to you when Director Schneider-"

Regal was interrupted by a crash from further in. After a brief but silent confrontation it was agreed that this should be looked into. They walked silently toward the origins of the interruption and found, to their surprise, Lloyd.

The teenager was tangled in several collapsed machines, tubes, and a few wires and was struggling to free himself from the mess.

"Uh… hey? 'Sup guys?"

"L-Lloyd? What the hell are you doing here!?" cried Sheena.

"Um… I'm shopping for Yuan?"

"Shopping? This looks more like stealing…" Regal looked disapproving, "Lloyd that is criminal!"

"Uh, no offense man, but that's kind of ironic coming from you… Do you mind giving me a hand?"

Despite their misgivings, the group helped Lloyd untangle himself from the mess that he had gotten himself into. It took them some minutes before he could even stand right, but they were finally able to untangle the last wire from his limbs. He looked sheepish, "Thanks guys, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been down here to help… what are you doing here anyway?"

"Giving a history lesson. Lloyd what are you really doing here?"

"Removing temptations. The stuff I'm taking is all exsphere related, it's useless now anyway, so I figure I'll take it off their hands."

"So you're stealing. That's really low, even for you," growled Marta. Kratos was surprised that Emil did not join in the taunting.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a horrible thief, but you'll thank me for it later. Hey, maybe you guys can help me find a DNA slicer, I've got no clue what DNA is and most of the stuff down here isn't ladled."

"Let me get this straight," Marta hissed, "you want us to _help_ you steal from this place even after you take the Cores and won't tell us what you're up to and, and everything!?"

"Basically, yes."

"Lloyd, no, just no. We won't rat you out, but we're not helping you," snapped Sheena. "Come on guys, let's go." The four, Emil, Marta, Sheena, and Regal, all began to walk away, but Kratos remained behind for a moment, looking at Lloyd oddly.

"Why do you need these machines, Lloyd?"

"It's a long story, but it's worth it, trust me."

"I do, Lloyden, I do. Be careful, do not die."

"I won't, you be careful too."

"The DNA Slicer is over there."

Kratos turned and walked away, not even acknowledging Lloyd's thanks. It seemed there was a new mystery to be solved. Something in Kratos' fatherly instincts told him that whatever it was, it was bad.

………………

Emil was lying in bed, his eyes closed, but his mind far from rest. The conversations and limited memories of the day spun through his head. They had had another run in with the man who had said he looked like this _Aster_, and been told that he had been killed by Richter. This had come as a huge shock, how could Richter have done anything like that? He was working against them, but he was not a bad guy… How could anyone think he had done that…?

And the whole day was a blur, it scared Emil to no end that he could barely remember what had happened. The world seemed to be spinning and happening without him, he felt left behind and alone, despite how much Marta was trying to help him. He had been left alone to rest, with only Tenebrae for company.

He had been able to fall asleep at first, but only minutes into his rest, been awoken by another dream of Richter… killing him. Tenebrae had comforted him, much to Emil's shock, and he was now simply laying, eyes closed, thoughts flying.

"Are you alright Emil?" the centurion asked softly.

"I-I guess… where's Marta?"

"She received word from Regal, shall we join her?"

"Uh, yeah… let's."

When he found the others, they were standing not far from the inn where they were staying, all talking agitatedly. Marta seemed distraught.

"What do you mean Emil isn't Emil!?" she cried. "That's not possible!"

Emil felt the ground disappear from beneath his feet as he listened; they were talking about him? He slipped out of sight so that he could listen further.

"That is what Raine believes," Regal continued. "She told me of her theories in that letter she gave me, and I agree with what she has to say. Emil goes through a transformation when he going into "Ratatosk Mode". This is not simply possession, am I correct?" Regal turned to Ratatosk and the taller man nodded, looking cold.

"Unfortunately, I have to agree with Regal and Raine; we once witnessed one of our friends being possessed and this kind of possession is absolutely nothing like what happened to them…"

What Marta, Sheena, and Regal all missed, Emil saw; Kratos started, then looked away, angry about something. Something that Emil could not see. Then it was gone, replaced with that cold look that seemed to forever cover the man's face.

"There is a lot more evidence, however, that is unimportant. What _is,_ is that Raine believes that the real Emil is suffering from amnesia and that Emil was created to make up for the lack of memories that he has."

"But what about his aunt and uncle?" demanded Marta, "They knew it was Emil!"

"That puzzles me as well, but perhaps it was just a coincidence. Under the circumstances we cannot be sure. Raine believes that the Ratatosk pact stimulated his mind and that the true persona comes out when Emil is in Ratatosk Mode. The theory makes sense, and it would explain for much of Emil's predicament."

Emil felt his body go numb. He was not… him. He was someone else. Emil was not Emil. Emil was… was… someone. Someone lost and confused and in a predicament that he had put them in. He suddenly felt the weight of his choices, his sins, weighing on the shoulders of two. Pulling down someone else with him. Yet, how could he not be him? He was very real, very there too, as were his memories. Memories of his life, his family, his friends as a child, and a young teenager. How could he not be real?!

"So, what you're saying is… is that I'm not actually me?" he said softly, stepping out of the shadows that he had hidden himself in. "That I'm not supposed to exist. That I'm someone else."

"Emil… No," Regal said, trying to comfort. "No, that is not right. You are still Emil, however, you are also someone else. But Emil is still here and real."

"Then what am I?!" shouted Emil, furious.

"Although Raine does not know this, it would surprise me if she did not agree, however, I could be very wrong, but… perhaps you are this person Aster. Perhaps Aster lost his memories and became Emil. We still need to gather more information, but it would be a good place to start."

"B-but… Aster's dead! How could I be Aster?! I'm me! I have to be me!" he was shouting now, but the late afternoon was leaning toward evening and there were very few people still around to listen.

"Emil…" whispered Marta. She walked forward and enfolded Emil in her arms. "Of course you're you. Of course. But we're worried about you. We want you to be alright…"

"Yeah, Regal's just worried about you, that's why he told us…"

"Emil, I do apologize for your hearing it like this. I never intended for you to find it out in such a way. I am so very sorry."

"N-no. I'm sorry. I want to know what's going on as much more than anyone else."

_Is this why I have dreams about Richter killing me…?_

………………

Kratos felt sick. Emil was not just two people, he was Emil and Ratatosk. They were one and the same and his fate was darker than that of Aster, Aster who had been dead for two years. He watched the boy live and love, feel, grow, and all would be for nothing because Emil would disappear, like so many Chosen, when a new soul and new power overtook his body.

It made him sick.

* * *

**Success! Next chapter will be the Temple of Lightning.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	48. In Which Enters the Temple of Lightning

**Chapter 48.**

**Within you shall find…lightning, explicit language, mysterious experiments, scientists, psychos, and lots of Ratatosk.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not yet own Tales of Symphonia or the sequel.**

* * *

"There. It's done." Lloyd and Yuan stared at their creation; Lloyd did not know whether to be thrilled, or horrified that it was now done. The thought that he had finally done…_ it._ It both scared and amazed at what they had been able to do with the plans they had found in Rodyle's Ranch.

"D-did we really just…?" stuttered Lloyd softly.

"If you're only just _now_ having second thoughts, I am concerned," snapped Yuan in response. "This was your idea; you insisted. Now live with your decision."

"S-so, how long before-?"

"An hour or so-" Yuan broke off when one of the machines that was also in residence in the basement lab began to glow with a soft, purple light. Both men turned away from their creation to stare at the Tracker, an invention of Yuan's to track active Centurion's Cores. "That's Tonitrus' Core…" Yuan stated quietly.

"Right, that's my cue to go." Lloyd turned to leave.

"No," Lloyd felt Yuan's hand on his shoulder. "Take him with you. This was your idea, you take care of him, explain what's going on."

"In the Temple?"

"In the Temple."

………………

Thunder and lightning rumbled overhead as Kratos, Emil, Marta, Sheena, Regal, and the monsters made a slow progression through the mostly deserted Temple of Lighting. The building had been overrun with Vanguard, and the group had rushed in to save the day as per usual. Their original purposes for coming to the Temple had consisted of solely selfish purposes: the Core and a woman called Rilena who supposedly had been a friend of Asters' before his "death".

Everyone, the Director included, said that Emil could be Aster's twin. Apparently, Rilena knew more about Aster and Richter than any other, and, so, they had been sent to the Temple where she was working. They had been greeted by a gruesome sight, however, when, upon their entering the Temple, they had found the guards that had blocked their entrance several days earlier dead. Not long later had they run into a group of scientists that had been working inside going on about the Vanguard attacking. When asked about Rilena's whereabouts, they were mortified to find that she was, of course, much deeper in.

They had followed the path that Lloyd and the others had when they had been there to make the pact, finding the right type of lighting to clear their path, making their way through pitch-black rooms and avoiding the lightning strikes.

With the worsening weather, one could not stand in the same place for too long without being electrocuted. Repeatedly, Emil, Marta, and Sheena were zapped by painful lightning.

Kratos was able to sidestep all of the lightning that crackled toward him. The others, unable to sense the gathering mana, were having problems.

"Damn it!" screamed Emil, having been zapped again, he had slipped into Ratatosk mode for the moment. "I can't see a-"-he used several choice terms to describe the situation-"-thing and I'm getting shocked by all this-"-he used a word that made Marta gasp-"-if I get shocked one more time I'm going to _kill_ somebody! Can we just find the damned Core and get the _hell_ out of here?!"

"Emil!" scolded Regal, "watch your language, there are ladies present!"

Ratatosk, being smarter and far more in control then Emil; slipped away to let an unsuspecting Emil take the thrashing that inevitably would follow his loose tongue. Kratos had to admit, Regal was almost as terrifying as Raine when he went into his lecture modes.

However, there seemed to be something wrong with Emil. He was distracted and, almost, talking to himself. Words formed on his lips, but never left. He seemed to slump and groaned softly. "Go away, Ratatosk Mode, leave me alone!" he whispered softly, so softly that only Kratos could hear him.

Could Emil really want to lose that part of him? Kratos could understand that he did not want to lose himself entirely, but he needed the Ratatosk side in order to fight, he would not have made it this far without it.

When he had been going for a full ten minutes, Sheena caught Kratos' eye and, when she was sure Regal was not looking, rolled her eyes. Kratos did not return the smile, and the Summoner looked away, disheartened.

They wandered farther and farther into the temple, making a slow progression up through the levels of purple stonework and intricate traps whilst guarding themselves from the monsters and Vanguard soldiers that lay in wait.

Kratos' blade met with the spear the soldier was carrying and his blow sent it spinning through the air. It buried itself into the hard stone floor some feet away, and the Summon Spirit advanced on the now unprotected man. However, the idiot, thinking himself braver then he was, charged at Kratos. Did he imagine to only use his bare hands to take the Seraph down?

His blade cut through flesh and bone and the soldier cried out as his legs and torso were separated from each other.

A soft healing spell danced over his skin and he nodded his thanks to Eon.

The others quickly dispatched their foes as well, and continued their trek though the Temple. Too soon, however, they ran into someone they knew well: Lloyd. The red-clad swordsman was not alone; he had a friend along. A friend that was cloaked in a black hooded robe, none of his features could be made out. Kratos could not even tell his race as the lightning mana was scrambling him.

"L-Lloyd?"

"Oh no, why do _you_ have to be here!?" groaned Marta.

Lloyd rolled his eyes, "Nice to see you guys too."

"Who is your companion, Lloyd?" Regal asked the question that was on all of their minds.

"An old friend!" answered Lloyd brightly, he grinned childishly. "Gotta' go!" With this, Lloyd took off, he and his friend racing through one of the passages to their left.

"What the _hell_ Lloyd?!" cried Sheena, "Why won't he tell us what's going on?! We can't help if he won't let us!"

"I agree, this is getting tedious, we had best move quickly so as to get the Core before either the Vanguard or Lloyd get there first," stated Regal.

And hurry is just what they did, racing along corridors, using all of their prior knowledge of the Temple to find the Sorcerer's Ring pedestals, and find the fastest passages through the many levels.

When they finally reached the topmost platform: the Seal Room, Tenebrae confirmed all of their thoughts with a soft, "The Core is behind that door."

"Emil, use the lightning!" commanded Marta, and Emil did so. With a soft popping noise, the lightning seemed to disappear into itself, and, finally, vanish. It left a direct pathway to the far wall, previously inaccessible. The moved cautiously forward, unsure of what to expect, and reached the wall. Marta's false Core began to glow, as did the spiraling ruins carved on the wall.

A door opened, much like the one in the Temple of Fire, and father passages could be seen winding upward. As they stepped out, Emil glanced over the side of the small platform they stood on and gasped.

"W-we're up r-really high!" he squeaked softly. "I-It's too high!"

Kratos glanced over the side as well, there were no guard walls nor railings and it was disturbingly easy to see their fate were they to fall. Spikes, long thin pointed things jutted from the dark water-though Kratos could hardly be sure that it _was_ water-the bodies of the departed littered below, some so ancient they could have been alive during the Kharlan War and some more recent.

"T-those are Vanguard soldiers!" whispered Marta, hurriedly diverting her eyes.

"Yeah, and that's what their intestines look like…" Sheena gagged. "Let's hurry up and get higher so we can't see them!"

They did, running up flights of stairs and along thin platforms that gave a very gruesome view of what would become of them if they fell. Kratos found himself to be the only one unaffected by the sights below them. He had no fear of falling, nor a real fear of any of the others toppling to their deaths, and death itself was something he had seen and caused more than enough times to become at least _outwardly_ immune to it.

"T-that's Decus!" cried Marta.

It was indeed true, the periwinkle-headed Vanguard leader could be smelled from a substantial distance away and was certainly a sight to behold. In his white and blue clothing, thick, fluffy collar, and long hair, he was managing to be both melodramatic and intimidating. He seemed to be threatening a young woman.

The girl herself was blond and dark-eyed and she was dressed in the usual garb for a researcher from the Elemental Research Academy. She stood in front of Decus; arms crossed stubbornly, eyes narrowed.

"Let me through, woman! I need the Core!" cried Decus as he pointed dramatically past the girl.

"No!" she shook her head violently, blond ponytail flying parallel with the ground. "The Alter area is very dangerous, I cannot let you through!"

Decus' eyes narrowed dangerously. Kratos was impressed that the girl did not flinch away from him. "Absolutely not."

"I understand that you are paralyzed by what you see, but I _insist_ that you remove yourself from my path! The Vanguard commands it!"

There was something wrong with Decus. Something in his eyes, or perhaps it was his tone. He was violent, uncharacteristically so, and his advances on their girl were not as much teasing as… threatening.

"No!"

"Well then-" Then Decus caught sight of Kratos and the others, his lips split into a wicked grin. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Ratatosk and his little friends!" he chortled. "Have you come to turn yourself in to the Vanguard? Decided you'd rather be on the winning side?"

"R-Ratatosk?!" cried the girl.

"That must be Rilena!" Marta stage-whispered.

Kratos had to agree, they had seen no other scientists that could be called "further in" than this girl, and she fit the description that they had been given. Decus was threatening one of Emil's only chances at finding out more about Aster…

"Damn you, Decus!" shouted Emil, and everyone turned in surprise to find that Emil was still… Emil.

"Oh, well then kid, let's see if you can make me!" he crowed. "See if you can even touch me without going all red-eyed on me! I'll take you and then your Spiritly master!" Decus charged, his blade swinging rapidly. Emil moved to block, his sword taking most of the damage, but the blade was being chipped away by the elder male's much larger sword. He cried out softly. "Ahahahahaha! Not so tough when you special powers aren't here to help, hmm?" cried Decus.

"E-Emil!" Marta tried to dash forward, but Kratos grabbed her, pulling her back. Decus' swings were too wild and random, there was no safe way to approach Emil: he was on his own. "L-let go!"

"No," Kratos' voice was low and commanding, easing the girl, "he must take care of himself."

"W-what?" Kratos heard the girl-Rilena-stutter. "Aster?! Stop it! Stop it! Don't hurt Aster!" She tried to race forward to stop Decus, but he only needed to lash his blade out toward her to stop her approach, she was obviously no fighter. "Help him!"

"What do you plan to do?" growled Tenebrae from behind Kratos. "We must save Emil."

Kratos glared wordlessly and was able to convey his frustration and helplessness soundlessly.

"W-why can't I go into Ratatosk Mode?!" cried Emil, panicking. So, that was it, Ratatosk was rebelling, though he did not realize who he was, the personality that was Ratatosk was refusing to take control, and could get both himself and Emil killed.

In a split-second, several things happened, one, Marta escaped from Kratos, two, Decus raised his blade screaming, "How do you like this power?! This beauty?! The overwhelming aroma that is me?! Now, die as you yearn for me!" and he went in for the killing blow, finally, and most importantly, Emil's eyes snapped to crimson.

"You always make me do your dirty work!" growled Emil softly, "Door to the Boundary, Open!"

There was a sound like a straw sucking air, hollow and overpowering, and a thousand times louder than was natural. Behind Rilena, who screamed and tried to run, a portal, simply black, appeared. Rilena, Decus, and the gruesome-looking iron maiden that carried his sword disappeared inside. They were gone in seconds, and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.

"Emil!" Marta screamed as she raced toward him, grabbing onto his shoulders. "Emil, stop it!" Her voice threatened tears and she grabbed the arm that Emil held out, the arm apparently holding the black hole open.

"Grr…" Emil allowed her to pull his arm down, and the portal dissipated, leaving no sign that I had ever been.

They were all struck speechless, all but Emil who simply "humped," and crossed his arms. "Situation handled."

Regal broke the silence that followed with a soft, "We are saved but…"

"But Rilena and Decus are gone, what the hell was that Emil?!" cried Sheena, "Kratos, was that a power of a Knight?!"

"Yeah, I guess it is," said Emil carelessly, shrugging. Kratos said nothing, only blinked. "I just said the words that popped into my head, you can thank_ Lord Ratatosk_ for that." He gestured to Kratos. "Now, let's go, there's no one in our way and we can get the Core-"

"No, we have to save Rilena! Kratos open the boundary and get her back!"

Kratos glanced at Tenebrae who shrugged cattishly, and mouthed _ad lib. _He was on his own. Thank the Gods he knew a significant amount about dimensional barriers. "I cannot. Only the Knight who opens the barrier can reopen it. It takes years of practice, however, and I would not suggest we allow Emil to attempt it again without much further training."

"Then how are we going to save Rilena?!" growled Marta, glaring.

"Who cares? She's just some woman, it's not like she matters anyway-" Emil's rant was cut off when Marta slapped him across the face. His red eyes registered shock and surprise and… hurt. Marta looked furious. "What…the…_hell?!"_ he cried.

"You are the biggest, insensitive, horrible, jerk that I have ever met!" she screamed at him.

"Well… this is all not going to help Rilena in the slightest," grumbled Sheena, then she turned to Kratos and Tenebrae, "Do either of you know what we should do next?"

Tenebrae nodded and, finally, spoke up. "I believe that I felt the presence of Solum's Core, it would make sense that Decus has it on his person. It would not surprise me in the least if the Vanguard has a Core that they are keeping secret. It would also explain his shape shifting abilities. If this is the case, then, when the barrier opened, Rilena and Decus must have ended up at Solum's Temple."

"The Temple of Earth," stated Kratos simply.

"Or, if, in fact, Decus did not posses Solum's Core, then they could simply have been transported to the Altar up ahead. It would be in our best interest to continue to the Altar, then to the Temple of Earth if they are not there."

Kratos nodded, to keep up the charade.

"Okay, then let's going with Tenebrae and Kratos' plan." Marta nodded.

"M-Marta, wait I-" Marta, however, would hear none of it, she moved away from Emil in a brisk, ignoring pace, to talk to Sheena and Regal.

A short walk through several levels of dangerously old and tiny stairways and bridges later, the band consisting of bickering children, a Summoner, a company President, a Centurion, and Seraph pretending to be a Summon Spirit, and eight monsters found themselves on a slightly more solid platform. However, they were no longer alone.

"Lloyd…" growled Emil softly.

Lloyd and his unnamed companion both stood over the altar, the Core in Lloyd's red-gloved hand, his companion seemed to be muttering something to Lloyd, but cut off abruptly when the approached. Lloyd grinned and tossed aside a small gold something-a mask-and said, "You're too late! I've already got the Core, so just leave me alone and better luck next time!"

"No, it's you who're too late!" called Emil back, smirking wickedly. Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you'd have gotten here faster and gotten out, you wouldn't have had to deal with me. You're running around like some little flea, but I'm starting to get really pissed at you, so hand over the Core, or I don't care how close you are to Ratatosk, you're dead meat!"

Lloyd snorted contemptuously and glanced at his friend, before turning back to Emil. "Kid, the last thing you are is intimidating. Now, be a good little boy and get out of my way. I don't have time to play children's games."

"Oh, so you _wanna'_ fight!? That works for me!" Enter here

Emil moved to pull out his sword, but Lloyd called, "I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

"Shut up and fight me you damn bastard!"

Emil tugged his blade from his sheath, however, at that moment, a flash of lightning and the sound of thunder roared and the purple lightning went straight for Emil. As the blond fried, Lloyd took his leave with a bright, "Don't say I didn't warn you! Well, I guess we're out. See ya 'round!"

Kratos watched Lloyd and his new friend run back they way that they had come and had to wonder what Lloyd had gotten himself into this time. Who was his friend? What were Lloyd's plans? Despite the time that he had spent with Lloyd, he still did not know everything apparently.

Furthermore, what had happened to Rilena and Decus? Where had they ended up? And, the biggest problem, _why could no one remember who he was?!_

* * *

**Well, here it is. Hope you enjoyed it!**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	49. In Which Hints are Dropped

**Chapter 49**

**You'll notice that I have more or less completely cut out Schneider. Partially because, despite its German origins, I dislike spelling his name repeatedly, and partially because I find him to be a useless character and he only seems to take up time. I want to get to the fun stuff. This, unfortunately, does not come until **_**after**_** the three trillion dungeon chapters. Therefore, I'm trying to cut off all the unimportant back-and-forth that causes me a lot of grief when playing the game, let alone writing it. So, that's where it's at.**

**Within chapter 49, you shall find… nerds, ninjas, Gnomelettes, Origin, romance, remembrance, nonsensical notes, exspheres, and more hints in relation to Kratos' predicament. **

**Disclaimer: Do I really even have to put this anymore? No, I don't own Tales of Symphonia.**

* * *

"So, this is the lower lab?" asked Marta, looking around the room. It was as dark and dank as the basement of the Elemental Research Academy, and just as full of machines. Unable to find anything resembling a "light switch", they had been forced to navigate their way to the back research desks by only the blinking glow of the machinery.

"These look like they could be Rilena's notes," growled Emil, still viciously in Ratatosk Mode. "Ratatosk, Centurions, Cores… yup, there's no way it could be anything else."

Marta skirted around the male, not speaking to him, she had been thus cold since the loss of Rilena and Decus in the Temple of Lightning. A relentless force, she remained chipper to everyone _except_ the Knight. Much of the Journey from Sybak to Meltokio had consisted of her chattering to Kratos and Tenebrae, who had become somewhat of a constant; acting as Ratatosk's servant while keeping an eye on what "Ratatosk" did and said.

"Yeah, these must be it… ugh!" she muttered after a moment, "They're useless!"

"Why would you say that?" asked Regal, leaning over the girl, "I cannot imagine that her work would be incorrect…"

"No, it's just… most of it is stuff we either already know, or it doesn't make any sense…" she took a deep breath, and then read: _"Due to a destabilized dimensional barrier brought about by forces unknown, we have discovered a universal morphing mechanism that is in turn demonstrating and confirming the proposal that over the past millennia, different forces were at work in the universe. Such concepts would explain the absence of Summon Spirits and Ratatosk's baffling condition. It would also explain why, after the Final Regeneration, he has reawakened…"_

Marta finished the page, then looked up expectantly at Kratos, Sheena, and Regal, as if they held the answer to her conundrum. All three did, however, they were not about to enlighten her, at least not here, not now.

"_The proposal that over the past millennia, different forces were at work in the universe…"_ What does that mean? _"Different forces…?"_ Something besides Summon Spirits and the Goddess? I don't understand…"

_Yes,_ thought Kratos, _something much more dangerous, something with the power of all forces. Something alien and inhuman: us._

"Perhaps now is not the time or place to discuss these findings," said Regal simply, "We should be on our way to the Temple of Earth to search for Rilena and the others."

"I agree with Regal, we shouldn't stick around, what if she gets hurt?!" Sheena, Kratos, and Regal all turned to leave, and Marta and Emil followed.

………………

Fate had, once again, stuck its long fingers into their business, and as Sheena and Regal disappeared for a moment to take care of some business with a ninja, and Kratos ordered monsters to scout ahead, Marta and Emil were having the necessary make-up session that everyone had known would come quickly enough.

Marta had been disturbingly quiet since leaving the Academy; the researchers had presented her with some rather disturbing and terrifying news:

"_Excuse me," one of the men working at the moment had come up to them, "I apologize for prying, however, you are the girl with Ratatosk's Core on your forehead, correct?" Marta had glanced awkwardly at Kratos before nodding; it was still unknown to the general public that the "Core" on Marta's forehead was a fake. "Have you been feeling alright?"_

_At his words, Marta looked up sharply, eyeing the man wearily. "Yes, why, is something wrong?"_

"_W-well, not exactly, however… Rilena, the girl whose notes you just looked at, once told me that what Ratatosk's Core is made of… it's the same substance as Exspheres."_

"_So what?!" snapped Emil, "Exspheres enhance your abilities, what are you going on about?!"_

_The man eyed Emil, "Exspheres are toxic when attached directly to your body without proper protection. It is what the Desians did in Human Ranches; eventually, the host's body is overtaken and they are destroyed. Sheena and Lord Bryant could tell you as much."_

"_I-I…" Marta stuttered softly, now afraid. "I didn't know…"_

"_Look, creep, back off!" hissed Emil. "Stop freaking her out!"_

_The man had looked offended, and turned, leaving without another word. Marta had said almost nothing since._

"Marta, are you alright?"

Kratos did not _mean_ to overhear, however, the two had chosen a rather unprotected area to hold their conversation, and angelic hearing made the whole thing worse.

"I'm… fine." It was the most she had said to Emil since the Temple of Lightning.

There was a long silence, and then Emil whispered softly, "I guess it really _does _have to be him." Another pause, and then Emil's voice, higher, softer, filled with concern for Marta. "Marta, are you okay?"

"Emil, are you really back to normal!?" she cried, thrilled. "But don't worry, I'm really fine! Really!" Kratos could hear that false tone in her voice, Colette had had the same when she had spoken about her angel toxicosis.

"Don't lie." Emil's voice was still light, still himself, but there was something… wrong. "Tell me what's got you worried all of a sudden."

"I-I guess I can't fool you, can I?" A quaver had come into Marta's voice. "It's just, what that man said back in Meltokio, about exspheres. I heard about that from some people who had escaped the Ranch: they said that people were turned into monsters. Sometimes they would be used to terrorize cities that didn't obey the Desians, or sometimes for punishments. You remember what the Mayor said, he said that that's what happened to Lloyd and Genis in Iselia! And even Kratos said that his wife turned into a monster and he killed her! Well, what if that's what happens to me?! What if you have to kill me?!"

"You fool," Kratos could hear the soft, sweet smile in Emil's voice, "Kratos and Tenebrae would never have put you in danger like that. He's just some nutcase who wants to stick his nose where it doesn't belong."

"'You fool'?" asked Marta softly, "Emil, that doesn't sound like you…" Kratos mirrored Marta's suspicions.

"O-oh, I guess I'm just too used to talking in Ratatosk mode, sorry Marta."

"No, you're not. You're still him, aren't you? You're not Emil at all, you're Ratatosk mode."

"So, I guess I'm not that great an actor after all," growled Emil, indeed still in Ratatosk mode. "I guess now you're going to go back to snapping at me every chance you get."

"No, oh Emil, I'm so sorry! I'm so mean to you when I _know_ you're just trying to help. You're Emil too, and I guess I just always forget that. I'm really sorry… You're so nice…"

"N-no! You've got me all wrong. I'm just getting sick of hearing how horrible I am!"

"Hey, Marta, Emil, Kratos, it's time to go! Come on!" Sheena's voiced echoed from not far away.

"We should go. Come on Emil."

"You go. I'll be there in a minute."

Kratos heard Marta head off in the direction that Sheena's voice had echoed from.

"It is good to hear the two of them talking to each other again, is it not?" Kratos turned to see Tenebrae sitting beside him. "I was actually getting worried for a moment there."

"Hmm… I agree."

"There the two of you are." Both beings turned to see Emil stalking toward them. "I'm assuming that you heard that whole thing?"

Tenebrae raised an eyebrow, cat-like. "My, my, have we finally remembered everything?" he asked, eyeing his Lord skeptically.

"Look, I'm just going to shut up and handle the fighting, if things get out of hand, you're handling it," he snapped. "Oh, and Aurion, if you betray me again, or start screwing with my image, you're dead, got that?"

Kratos raised an eyebrow, it was eerie to hear those words coming from Emil's mouth. "I shall keep that in mind if I am ever debating such actions."

"Humph, that's what I thought."

………………

"!!!!" screeched Sheena. "Not these damn things again!"

In the back, both Regal and Kratos sighed, however, it was not at Sheena's actions, but at what had caused them. Kratos had hoped that, since Gnome was no longer confined to the Temple, his "servants" would not have remained stationary there either. Unfortunately, the creature that dubbed himself "Big Brother" and his hoards of identical "siblings" were still in control of the Temple of Earth.

"I don't see what's so bad…" murmured Marta, bending down by the little strange-almost human-looking- Gnomelette. "He's kinda cute, actually."

"Yeah, I agree with Marta, they're adorable!" Emil said.

"The last thing these creatures are is "cute"," rumbled Regal. "They are a great nuisance."

"That's nice, why don't ya' tell us what ya' _really_ think Old Man!" snapped the Gnomelette.

"That's not very nice," scolded Marta gently.

"_That's not very nice,"_ mocked the Gnomelette, "Shut up, Lady!"

Marta looked as though she had been slapped.

"And here I had hoped the earthquake had squished the lot of you!" growled Sheena.

"Shut up you little b-"

"Language," snapped Regal.

"Get the hell out of here!"

"Hehe, this is not how you handle creatures like this," said Tenebrae with a smirk, "Let me demonstrate. Pardon me, my good sir, but would you mind taking yourself and your cohorts and playing elsewhere?"

This was, quite obviously, the wrong thing to say, as the Gnomlette did not understand most of the terms that the Centurion used, and "playing" was a definite insult.

"Know what, Furball? I don't think I will!" snapped the little creature, putting his stumpy arms on his almost nonexistent hips. "Just clear out, Losers!"

"Saw that one coming," muttered Sheena, "Okay, what do you want this time? Potion? Spicy?" The ninja was grasping at straws.

"You losers aren't getting anywhere; I don't like you, so just turn around and get out before you get hurt!" There was a collective groan as even Emil and Marta grasped just how annoying these little creatures could be.

"You know what?!" cried Sheena, "I'm not going to put up with these bratty little things this time! _I call upon the source of heaven, earth, and everything in between, ruler of all, I Summon thee, come, Origin!"_

Kratos had to admit that, though the Summoner's action seemed like an overreaction, he favored the idea of Origin coming and teaching the Gnomelettes a lesson. The Spirit appeared in a flash of light, in all his otherworldly glory. Origin was a humanoid man from the waist up, and some sort of violet hoofed animal waist down, no one had ever gotten close enough to the almighty King of the Summons to tell what he was. He was glorious in power as he floated several feet off the ground, power lighting up the dim cavern, looking impressive. Kratos had not seen the Sprit for some time, now that he was no longer the seal.

"_Summoner, why have you called me?"_

Kratos could have laughed at the surprise on both Origin and the Gnomelette's faces when Sheena pointed at them. Kratos glanced over at Emil and Marta, watching their eyes widen as they took in the appearance of the Great Spirit, having never seen anything so awe-inspiring before. Regal seemed almost embarrassed by his friend's action, his face slightly flushed and a hand resting against his temple.

"Those stupid brats won't let us through, and I'm sick of dealing with them on my own! Take care of it!" cried Sheena, apparently having realized how melodramatically she had reacted and just going along with her actions.

"_You have Summoned me to take care of pests?"_ growled Origin.

"PESTS?!" shouted the Gnomelette, apparently having gotten over the threatening appearance of the Spirit and back to its cocky self. "The only pest I see here is you, Loser!"

Kratos raised an amused eyebrow, Regal came down with a suspicious coughing fit, and Sheena bit back giggles; Kratos was even quite sure that he heard the dry chortling of Tenebrae. Origin looked murderous.

"_Pardon, Runt?"_ He glared.

"Aren't you the scary loser? Ohh, look, he's half donkey too! Not just a donkey, a _purple_ donkey!"

Origin's eye twitched, and white light poured down from the sky upon the creature, who just had time to squeal in terror and dive into the ground. There was a moment of blinding whiteness, and then it cleared enough that Kratos could see the Gnomelette a fair way off shouting incomprehensively, though he did think that he heard "Loser" several times.

"_Does that take care of your problem, Summoner?"_

"Uh, yeah, thanks Origin," Sheena beamed.

"_Hmm… So, these are the Knights of Ratatosk?"_ he asked turning to eye Emil and Marta, _"and Ratatosk himself, a pleasure to see you again."_ Then, much to Kratos' horror, the Spirit winked at him. Origin knew something.

Kratos opened his mouth to say something, but Origin had already disappeared, and the others were reawakening.

"T-that was Origin…?" whispered Emil, "W-wow, he was really scary!"

"I agree, that was terrifying, he could have roasted that Gnomelette!"

"They shouldn't mess with us again!" Sheena grinned, and Regal sighed.

"That was an enormous overreaction, Sheena."

Kratos, however, was not paying attention to their conversation. Origin knew something. How had he gotten himself into this? What the hell was going on? And what was going to happen next?

* * *

**I'm cutting off here.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	50. In Which They Enter a Mine

**MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!**

**Another annoying dungeon chapter, but I'm nearly done, and very soon the fun will begin. Within one shall find Rilena, a very pissed group of Lookin, the light of Judgment, secret passages, and a resort? Let chapter fifty begin!**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshi did not get Tales of Symphonia's rights for Christmas… Santa, you're such a rip-off sometimes!**

* * *

The way though the Temple of Earth went far more smoothly now that most of the creatures within were terrified that Origin would appear again and incinerate them. They reached the altar that had previously belonged to Gnome in good time, and located Rilena. The researcher looked no worse for wear than a few scratches and a rather rumpled, strained look that must have come from disappearing and reappearing within the span of a few seconds.

Rilena was a small woman with stern eyes and blond hair that was pulled back into a simple ponytail. She was being helped to her feet by one of the Papal Knights that had been clearing out the Temple, and when they approached, she looked up, surprised.

"A-Aster?!"

So, she too believed that Emil was Aster…

"N-no, I'm Emil, Miss…" Emil trailed off, obviously uncomfortable with being "Aster". "I'm so sorry about what happened to you, it's all my fault that you ended up here…"

"Oh, Emil… I see… But it isn't your fault, the dimensional barrier has been flawed due to mana interference since the worlds came together, whatever happened back there, it was definitely not your fault."

"Um… thanks?"

"Pardon me," Regal stepped in, "You are Miss Rilena, correct?"

The girl jumped, despite her maturity, she could not have been more than seventeen, and most likely unused to being addressed so politely. "Y-yes…"

"We were told by Director Schneider that you would be able to enlighten us on the subject of the boy you mentioned earlier, Aster. What exactly is it said that his fate was?"

Rilena seemed to find the floor of the Temple fascinating at that moment, as her eyes were directed at the moisture-soaked rock beneath her feet. "H-he was working on the Ratatosk project," she began quietly, "He was obsessed with it, he said that Ratatosk would be able to help both Tethe'alla _and_ Sylvarant, with the amount of power he had… well, the possibilities were endless. He and his partner, Richter, spent all of their time working on it together on it. Then, after the worlds were reunited, Aster and Richter went out for "field testing".

"But it must have been way more important than that, because they were gone for almost a month. Aster never came back." Rilena's eyes were tearing up as she spoke, apparently she and Aster _had_ been very close. "When Richter came back, he was raving! He insisted on calling Ratatosk a "Demon Lord" and that he had killed Aster! The top said that that Richter must have gone insane and killed Aster himself, he being a half-elf and all, it wasn't that difficult to believe, but he and Aster were very… close. I just don't know any more…"

As she finished her story, Rilena began to cry, and Sheena and Marta were both over comforting her in a second, leaving Kratos, Regal, Emil, and an invisible Tenebrae to watch awkwardly. Kratos glanced over at Regal, then down at Emil. Regal was doing well, and Emil terribly, at hiding what was on their minds. _Had Kratos met Richter and Aster?_

Technically, no; however, as Ratatosk, he had. He did, however, not want to have to further fabricate "his" story. Calling Richter insane seemed like a much better idea.

"I-I apologize, Aster and I were very close, his death still weighs on me, was there something else that you wanted?"

"Actually, we were wondering if he had any odd scars or birthmarks."

At Regal's words, her eyes jumped to Emil, but she said nothing about what she must have been thinking, simply answering the question. "Well, he once showed me a star-shaped scar on his neck-"

"-Excuse me, but we should get this woman above ground…" one of the Knights had returned, "I apologize for the intrusion, but is still not safe down here."

"One second," said Sheena, then she turned back to Rilena, "That guy, Decus, where did he end up, do you know?"

"That putrid-smelling man? He went in further, past the altar, are you going after him?"

"Yes, be safe, Miss Rilena." With these words, Regal lead the way past the altar and deeper into the Temple, in the direction that she had directed them in.

………………

Kratos blocked and swore loudly as the large worm—Lookin—rolled toward him, nearly squishing him in the process. He managed to slip just to the side and slash at the creature, but his sword bounced uselessly off of the shell-like hide of the beast. It was moving too fast to stab, which was the only way to penetrate the rough outer shell. Having missed its target, the Lookin spun around and charged again without losing speed and Kratos was forced to dodge again.

He attempted to send a Demon Fang at the creature to slow it; it worked, to a point. It squealed in pain, but did not stop its path toward Kratos and he was forced to dodge again. The things did not seem to tire, the momentum of its roll, the slickness of its outer shell, made it so that almost no effort was put into the attack, but the damage it dealt was enormous, so there was no chance of destroying it. The best way would have been to cast a spell, preferably Judgment, on it, but one did not have enough time against one—let alone _four_ of the things—to cast.

"Light spear!" Kratos shouted as it rolled toward him again, his sword, glowing with mana, slashed through the air, pulling the Lookin up with it as he spun into the air. It landed dazed; Kratos charged again, and wedging his sword between two of the plates that made up the exoskeleton, he shoved. But the creature was already awake, and spinning away from him. There was a loud _snap_ and Kratos was left holding the handle and splintered bottom of his sword. "Damn it!"

The others did not seem to be doing much better; Regal was forced to dodge more than he attacked, unable to cause any damage with his kicks. Emil and Marta were attempting to slash at another Lookin, but could not seem to find an opening between the two of them; Sheena was actually balanced on top of hers, trying to run as fast as the creature rolled, but she was tiring quickly, even with the assistance of her exsphere. There was still no opening for Kratos to cast.

The Lookin was rolling toward him again, but it seemed to be moving slower. When Kratos dodged by its attack again, he saw why; the edge of his blade was still wedged in its side. It was bleeding, and the rolling seemed to only drive the blade in deeper. Kratos jumped to the side again as it rolled around, and the Lookin squealed with pain. It wheeled around, as if it was unable to stop, and raced toward him. At the last moment Kratos dodged, and leapt into the air, slamming his foot against the still showing blade; it slipped deeper, and the Lookin roared in pain and rage.

It spun to attack once again, but mid-turn it collapsed sideways. When Kratos moved closer, he saw that it was dead, the sword having penetrated its heart. A lucky break.

Immediately, he began to cast Judgment. He had only a few seconds before the creatures noticed the mana gathering and attacked, he simply hoped that the others would be able to hold them off.

"_Sacred powers, cast your purifying lights upon these corrupt souls…"_

………

Emil and Marta were having problems; their Lookin was not finding it difficult to handle the two of them. Despite Emil's vicious Ratatosk mode attacks and Marta's quick light spells, there was nothing that could be done. Then, from behind, they heard the deep voice of Kratos; he seemed to be chanting. They spun around to see him casting. It must have been the same spell that he had used on Decus. Unfortunately, it seemed the Lookin was also aware of the new threat, as it immediately began to roll toward the Ratatosk Spirit.

"Shit!" Emil charged toward it, to distract it from the casting man. He was not the only one, Regal and Sheena were both now chasing after their own Lookin. Sheena cried out something in Mizuhoian and smoke erupted in front of her Lookin, forcing it to turn away in fear. The ninja leapt nimbly to its side and slammed a card into it, blasting it so that the creature tumbled sideways and unrolled. In seconds she was in front of Emil's gesturing for him to take care of hers.

Between her and Marta, they were able to momentarily stun the creature while Regal disabled his own. The finishing blow came from Kratos who, with his usual flair, sent the lightning of the heavens down upon the unworthy souls. In a flash of silver-blue light, all three of the Lookin were blasted and tumbled to the ground, dead.

.........

Kratos, Marta, Emil, Regal, Sheena, and Tenebrae all stared at the four departed monsters, and the newly discovered machines attached to their foreheads. They had all seen such equipment before, on Alice's "little pets". That these creatures had the mind-control devices attached to them was a dark sign of how much power the Vanguard were gaining. In addition, it proved what they had already theorized; the Vanguard had Solum's Core. The small jewel had not been in the altar room, and it was now obvious that the Vanguard has traversed though the area enough to post guards at the hidden tunnel.

"So, I guess that proves it then…" said Marta softly, "and it explains why they attacked us."

"Yes, Lookin are generally very shy creatures, an unprovoked attack is uncharacteristic of them," Tenebrae nodded. "But I don't wonder where this passage leads."

"Our best bet would be to follow it and see," stated Regal.

"Yeah, I never knew that this was here, it worries me, we should really look into it." At the insistence of Sheena and Regal, they set off to explore further down the tunnel. What they did not expect to find was a dead-end.

"What?" demanded Marta, "Did they just disappear?"

"You don't think it's some sort of trap, do you?" asked Sheena, quickly looking around the dark chamber, but there was no one there.

"Not a dead-end," corrected Kratos, "a warp."

Everyone turned to see what Kratos was looking at and comprehension dawned on them. In a small alcove, at first difficult to find in the dark, a simple platform sat, glowing slightly.

"What in the world is that kind of technology doing here?" asked Regal softly.

"Yeah, I haven't seen anything like that since Derris-" The ninja cut off, realizing that her words were not meant for the children's ears. "I-I mean the Desian Ranches…"

"Yes, I do recall both Forcystus and Rodyle having something like this in their Ranches…"

"So did Kvar, and Lloyd once told me Magnius had a whole maze of them…"

"But how would the Vanguard have Desian technology? They hate the Desians as much as anyone!" Marta cried.

"The Vanguard did not put it here, but they obviously were the first to rediscover it," Kratos stated softly, "Here, see the angelic script? This was being used by the Desians to get into… the Toize Valley Mine."

"What?" cried Regal, "But I _owned_ that Mine! I saw its destruction months ago, how could the warp still be active?"

"Perhaps it would be best to simply follow it and find out instead of standing around wondering," said Kratos.

So, one by one, the group proceeded though the warp, hoping against hope that there was not an army of Vanguard waiting on the other side.

They were in luck; they came out, as the angelic writing had said, in the Toize Valley Mine. The underground tunnels were dark and silent but for the sound of dripping water and their own echoing breathing.

"S-so this is the Toize Valley Mine?" asked Marta, shivering in the cold underground caves.

"Yes, I had believed it destroyed months ago, the fact that it is still standing and in use is very troubling." Regal looked around, "I had hoped I would never have to come here again."

"Ah, come on Regal; remember all the good times we had here? Like the time we beat up your really expensive security door?" Sheena grinned teasingly.

Regal sighed and rubbed his temples. "Unfortunately. We should find a way out and then, if you do not mind, I should get to Altamira and tell George about this. We need to finish the job of destroying the Mine."

"That sounds good to me," said Marta, and Emil nodded, "it must be really important if the Desians have been using it…"

"Indeed, this used to be an exsphere Mine, however, the business tends to favor rather… dark customers," Regal informed them as he began to walk. "Exsphere brokers like Vharley come and attempt to illegally obtain them and sell them to Desians. Rodyle was particularly notorious."

"Rodyle was one of the biggest bastards ever! He practically killed both Colette and Presea, another friend of ours, and actually managed to kill Botta and a few others…" Sheena sighed, "He was also the one to reinvent the mana cannon, though we couldn't have stopped the Kharlan Tree without it."

"Yes, without the mana cannon and the Renegades there would have been no way to stop the tree."

"Renegades? What are Renegades?" asked Emil, Regal and Sheena both jumped, apparently having forgotten that they were not alone in the dark tunnel.

"Oh, that's right, you don't know…" Sheena trailed off, "They were a bunch of underground half-elves working to take down the Desians from the inside. They were lead by Yuan, who you've apparently already met."

"Yuan? Really?" Marta looked surprised, "He doesn't strike me as the type to lead a revolution…"

"As careless as he seems, Yuan is a fantastic leader, and he has a good heart."

"Personally, I think it's a question of whether he has a heart or not." Regal raised an eye at Sheena, who simply shrugged. "What, you've questioned it too."

"Need I remind you to whom he was engaged? I doubt a woman like that would be particularly fond of a man with no heart."

"It died with her, trust me. I mean, think about it…"

Kratos felt rising resentment for Sheena; he had never been particularly fond of her before; however, she was deepening his dislike. She should not have spoken so lightly on a topic such as this. Yuan had been though much, and done much to help them. The entire Regeneration group was in his debt and she had the impudence to speak of him as such? At least Regal had a reserved politeness about him.

"You shouldn't talk about him like that!" scolded Emil, the others looked around at him, "I mean, sure he's a jerk, but it sounds like he's helped you a lot, and he's really not so bad, you should be nicer!"

Sheena was blushing, and Regal nodding as if he approved of Emil's words. "B-besides, Yuan is Kratos' friend, I doubt he appreciates it…"

At these words, Regal and Sheena's gazes fixed on Kratos, and he felt concern bubble in his stomach. "Wait, you're Yuan's friend?" growled Sheena, walking forward so she was right in front of Kratos, "You cast Judgment, you're name is Kratos, you act just like him, what the hell is going on here?!"

Kratos was saved from having to answer by Regal who put his hand on Sheena's shoulder, "Sheena, calm yourself. He is not Kratos, there must be something beyond our understanding, let it drop," he commanded softly. Sheena did, but just barely, and obviously against her better judgment, realizing she was mouthing off to a Summon Spirit and, Summoner or not, that was not an intelligent choice.

"Sorry," she muttered, and marched off down the tunnel. Regal sighed and followed.

Kratos was aware of the eyes of Emil, Marta, and Tenebrae on him, but when he turned he saw that Emil's eyes were red, but his stance and expression were that of Emil, not Ratatosk. Apparently, Ratatosk was listening in.

"Kratos…?" asked Marta softly, "What's going on? Are you really Kratos or Ratatosk or what?"

Emil said nothing, but those red eyes seemed to warn against Kratos telling the truth.

"I am Ratatosk, that is all you need worry about."

He said it with an air of such absolute finality that the subject dropped.

It was not much longer that they found their way out though a crack in the mountain, and yet another trek cross-continent. It was only about a day's worth of walking, however, they chose to rest the night hidden in the shadow of the Toize Mountains and started off early the next morning.

* * *

**And I'll say it again, Merry Christmas!**

**A short note on next week's chapter, unfortunately, due to completely uncontrollable circumstances, I will be utterly unable to update on time next week. The goal is to have it up by Sunday, but, due to my travel schedule, that may too be delayed. I apologize in advance for this, but I'm going to an area that is horribly internet-less.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	51. In Which Altamira is Not Relaxing

**Chapter fifty-one: In Which Altamira is **_**not**_** Relaxing.**

**If you're reading this on a Friday, then thank Martel I got to internet. If you're reading it later, then I'm sorry it took so long to get up.**

**I want to get though quite a bit this chapter without making it seem too rushed, we going though the entire first siege on Altamira. In this chapter, one shall find idiot soldiers, undercover Seraphim, psycho Sadists, mean daddies, and Marta overeating...a lot.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshi does not own Tales of Symphonia.**

* * *

Even Kratos, who, at the best of times, was high-strung, could find Altamira a very relaxing resort. Not today through.

Their arrival into the resort city had been relaxing and quiet; the calls of birds, sound of the ocean, and general hubbub of the guests mixing for a calming atmosphere. Regal swiftly lead the way though the city toward Lezareno Headquarters where he and George had a short talk about the mines. It would most certainly have lasted much longer had a worker rushed in at that moment with very, very bad news.

"George! Lord Bryant! The Vanguard have taken over Altamira! They are requesting that you hand over the girl you kidnapped and the Ratatosk Spirit or they destroy the city!"

This statement was met with general silence.

"This is-"

"I think "bad" would be a bit of an understatement."

"We need to evacuate the city; the citizens are first-priority."

"W-we can't Lord Bryant, they're all being held in the hotel for ransom, if we don't comply to the demands, then they're dead!"

"Damn," swore Regal, "What can we-?"

"We turn me in, get Kratos out of here, and hope that Daddy will give up the city for just me!" All present turned to stare at Marta. There was no way they were simply going to hand the girl over to the Vanguard, the Core still fed off her person, it's removal would still lead to some sort of harm to her personal being.

"Marta, that's out of the question!" cried Emil, "We're not about to turn you in!"

"Yes, you go, get Kratos out of here! I'll hold them off for as long as I can!"

With these words, Marta dashed off, jumping into the open elevator and quickly shutting the doors to sink to the next floor.

"Damn it! The last thing we need right now is a damsel in distress!" cried Sheena, pushing the button for a second elevator. "Come on, come on!"

"George, get as many of the guests to safety as possible, we have to go after Marta. Kratos, stay here where it is safe."

Kratos rose an eyebrow skeptically, "Absolutely not." He growled softly and followed the others into the elevator that had finally come. No one tried to stop him.

"A-are you sure?" asked Emil softly, "You're wanted too…"

"She is my responsibility, and I am hardly about to let you go by yourselves." It was the final word on the subject.

They did not catch up with Marta until they reached the mainland. She was hovering, apparently caught in indecision, near the exit to the rails.

"Marta!" Emil raced forward, quickly enfolding the girl in a hug. "Marta, you can't run off like that!"

"Yeah, you had everyone worried, now is _not_ the time to be playing the selfless hero! We need to stick together and come up with a plan to get the citizens out of here."

"But the Vanguard…and we can't turn in Kratos!"

At these words, Kratos snorted, "You forget who I am. I have been alive long enough to learn how to take care of myself. Do not assume that I cannot get myself out of trouble." Kratos felt as if he was being treated like a child or, perhaps, more like Colette. He did not need protection, he was easily capable of cutting down any enemy.

"It is true that Rat-Kratos can take care of himself, as for the city, I have become rather…paranoid since the Journey of Regeneration, I have a few tricks up my sleeve yet. But for the time being, perhaps we should move this discussion to the Hotel, we had best not be caught unawares."

"Regal's right, I should also find a Mizuho scout and tell them what's happening. Let's get back to the hotel."

Nowhere was safe now that the Vanguard had overrun Altamira, the walls were covered in graffiti and Vanguard signs hung from every banister. They were forced to literally sneak their way to the hotel, and even then, they met with an old friend they would rather not have dealt with.

"Well, well, well, Mart-mart, the little Pet, and Krattie-Kins picked up some new friends again!"

"Alice…" growled Marta.

"Damn, you're that Vanguard girl!" Sheena pointed accusingly at her.

"The President of Lezareno and Sheena, chief of Mizuho, I'm honored."

"Have you come to take Marta and Kratos?!" demanded Emil.

"Alas, no, I'm under direct orders to leave Mart-mart and Ratatosk to come on their own. But I do have the pleasure of informing you that if you _don't_ turn yourself in, we'll blow this place to kingdom come!" Alice's little snaggletooth grin made Kratos stomach twist, he had no doubt that whatsoever that she would come through with her threats. "I've got explosives set all around this place and Hawkie has the detonator, so if you don't agree to our commands, you'll all be meeting Martel soon!

"And this time, Ratatosk, you won't have that brat Hero of yours to save you pretty little ass." Alice turned and walked toward the door, throwing over her shoulder, "You have until dawn to make a choice Mart-mart!"

When she was gone, Sheena hissed, "What a witch, I'm surprised she wasn't recruited the Desians. You said she was Sylvaranti, right? From Hima? I'm surprised that Kvar didn't get his hands on her." Both Marta and Emil looked blank, being from Palmacosta, then had most likely not heard of Kvar nor any of the other Grand Cardinals but Magnius. "A-anyway, what should we do now?"

"Isn't it simple?!" demanded Marta, "I _have_ to turn myself in! Somehow convince them to let the city go without turning in Kratos…"

"No way, Marta, who knows what they'll do to you, and you know the Vanguard won't give up without getting their hands on Kratos!"

Kratos was beginning to wonder if it was not best to tell Emil the truth about Ratatosk and turn himself in to give them a little more time, but he was in a similar dilemma to Marta's own, he would not let the girl turn herself in.

Marta made the choice for them.

"I'm going, I don't care what you way, we _have_ to save everyone, they're just innocent bystanders. So what if it means I have to turn myself in?! We _have_ to save them!"

Kratos had not know that she could run so fast, she was out of the Hotel and running down the street before any of the others could register what had happened. "N-no, Marta wait!" Emil began to race after him, but Tenebrae, appearing in a puff of dark mana, stopped him.

"Emil, you cannot stop her, you cannot go out. The city is overrun with the Vanguard, if you go after her you will be caught as well. We cannot lose you as well, we must be logical in our efforts."

"Tenebrae is right," said Kratos softly, "the best way to help her now would be to stop the Vanguard as a whole. If we stop her now we will all be captured and she will be beyond help."

Emil glared at Kratos, "She'll be beyond help unless we stop her now!"

"Kratos is right, calm down. Rest, build your strength, the three of us will come up with a plan." Kratos was glad that he had Regal's support. Emil still looked rebellious, but he seemed to understand their logic.

"Fine, I'm going to take a nap." He turned and disappeared into the elevator.

"Great, now we have to think of a plan…" growled Sheena. "At least he's calmed down. So, did you actually have anything in mind?"

"It is not possible that the Vanguard would be pleased with only Marta; they will be holding her, no doubt under tight security." Kratos paced toward the elevator, preferring to make their plans in private. "The best way to get to her would be to go walk into their trap with some sort of weapon or preset preparation."

"Turn ourselves in?!" hissed Sheena, "That's awfully risky, and what about you? You'll get yourself in a lot of trouble if you just walk in…"

"Perhaps," suddenly, Tenebrae was floating along beside them. "Perhaps Lord Kratos could mask his appearance and disguise himself as a Vanguard soldier. Well the four of you create a distraction, he can shut down their operating system from the inside."

"…I agree with Tenebrae."

"Yes," agreed Regal, "That does sound like an intelligent course of action."

"Humph, I guess there's not exactly a ton else we can do. But won't the Vanguard recognize you?"

"I will take care of that."

How ironic, the idea that he suddenly did not _want_ to be recognized when he had longed for so long to be known.

………………

Kratos stared at his appearance; it felt good to have his auburn hair back, as well as having pulled on his "Mercenary" gear. He felt more at home in his own skin than he had been in some time. He would not get to stay in this clothing for long, but he appreciated the short time he had.

"You really know what you're doing?" demanded Emil-no, Ratatosk-from the bed. Emil had been asleep when Kratos had entered, but he had awoken as Ratatosk, Emil still asleep. "If you get caught, keep your mouth shut."

"You think I would put the world in that kind of jeopardy?" Kratos asked softly.

Emil snorted but said nothing.

"The plan will work Lord Ratatosk, I assure you. I will go with him to make sure all goes according to plan," said Tenebrae, he had more confidence than Spirit or Angel.

"Just don't screw it up! I'm this close-" Ratatosk held up his index finger and his thumb a centimeter apart, "-to regaining my full powers. If I get caught now, I may as well turn _myself_ into a Core."

"I will be sure to keep that in mind," murmured Kratos. It was only logical that Ratatosk would want a distraction, but somehow Kratos felt as though there was something only slightly less than fear behind his motives. "We should go; Sheena and Regal will be ready to go in but a few minutes."

"Right, I'm letting him out."

Ratatosk closed his eyes, and Kratos watched in wonder as Emil's shoulder visibly relaxed, his face turning from a mask of anger and hatred to that sweet, calm, concern that was Emil. He yawned widely and opened his green eyes. "S-sorry Kratos, did I oversleep?"

"No, but the plan is about to begin. Come, we should go downstairs."

………………

Kratos watched the others feed some lie to a couple of Vanguard soldiers and the men allowed them passage to the Casino where their main base had been established. Kratos had already changed into one of the tacky Vanguard Uniforms. It was full or browns, grays, and whites, and was complete with a horned skeletal mask.

He, with Tenebrae near but invisible, walked openly with the other Vanguard Soldiers as they made their way to the Casino. When he reached the building, he saw the others being shipped off to wherever they were holding the other prisoners, Regal in handcuffs. Alice was staring after them, obviously wondering about his presence, or lack thereof. He did not pause to let her catch sight of him, but hurried on, down a flight of stairs in the direction that Regal had indicated that he take in order to reach the main control of the Casino.

The others were counting on him to open the doors lest they be trapped until the Vanguard made plans on how to deal with them.

When he reached the basement, he found, much to his chagrin that Hawk was holding some sort of meeting in the exact location he needed to be. It seemed as though they were near to finished, however, and, once they were gone, he hurried over to the control panel and began to shut things down.

………………

"Emil, Regal, Sheena, what are you doing here!?" cried Marta when they were delivered by the Vanguard foot soldier to the "prison".

"Rescuing you of course!" cried Emil. "You shouldn't have run off like that, you could have been killed!"

"Oh Emil…" Marta swooned. "But where's Kratos? I hope you got him out of the city…"

"Kratos is procuring our way out through the basement, with any luck, the power, including the electric locks on this building, should be going out soon."

After several minutes, though they felt like hours to the trapped party members, the lights flickered, and then went out. For a moment, there was silence and then pandemonium broke out above them. The shouts of surprised soldiers, the commands of officers trying to regain control and find out what had happened echoed above. Suddenly, the door to the room burst open and Kratos, still dressed as one of the soldiers, ushered them out.

"I see your plan was a success," commented Regal as they hurried in.

"As was yours," amended Kratos, "Come."

They were met at the top of the stairs by a rather unpleasant sight. Hawk stood, staring down at them, fury and horror written across his scarred features. "Y-you did this…" he growled, "because of you, Lady Alice will have my head!" he was muttering only half to them, but most of his thoughts seemed to be meant for his ears alone. He was thoroughly unhinged. "There's only one thing to do, yes. Of course. I must finish you off myself!"

With no further ado, Hawk charged. He was equipped with huge "claws," there really was no better name for them, and the tunnel they were in was narrow. Kratos had been leading the way, and, in the tight amount of space, was only just able to pull his sword out and block before Hawk was upon him. Sparks flew as metal met metal and Hawk slashed and Kratos carefully blocked each blow.

There was no offensive; Hawk was fast and his slashes mad and furious. When Kratos tried to take offensive, disarming Hawk and slashing at him, but the other man was fast, and Kratos felt a warm trickle of blood slide down his cheek. He had gone back on defense.

He needed a plan, none of the others could help, and Marta would not dare cast a spell that may hit Kratos. At any second, more Vanguard soldiers could hear them and come down to investigate. They were completely trapped. Kratos' blocking became more wild and Hawk was forced further up the stairs, closer to the door. If they could only get a few steps higher, they could take him faster. Hawk was not tiring, however, he did not seem to notice Kratos' plan and allowed himself to be pushed higher.

"I know you," he cried, "you're Ratatosk! The one that took down Lady Alice!" Kratos did not answer, but slashed harder, and that was enough of an answer for Hawk. "Turn yourself in!"

That was when Hawk hit the door. It opened out into the main casino area and the odd group spilled out. "Damn," growled Hawk, "give me a hand here!"

The room was, luckily, near empty, only three men had been put on guard duty while the others tried to find and fix the power problem. The men hesitated for a moment, watching their leader with worried eyes. They could all see that something had snapped. Then the first man ran forward, his short sword aimed for Kratos was deflected by Emil, his eyes flashing red. After a moment, the others joined. Chaos erupted and the sound of shouted spells and metal scraping against metal echoed in everyone's ears.

That was when Kratos saw it: hanging from Hawk's neck like a sick trophy, was the detonator for the explosives set around Altamira. He needed to get it off of the other man's neck, preferable _without_ having to decapitate him. He slashed again at Hawk as he heard Regal take down one of the other soldiers and so did Emil. There was only one left but she would soon be downed by Sheena. Kratos quickly disarmed Hawk and was ready to take the detonator when another soldier rushed in.

Everyone froze and turned to look at the man, "Lord Hawk, Commander Brute will be here in a-" he cut off, for the first time seeing the madness below. Hawk made a choking noise upon hearing his leader's name. Kratos could not blame him, it would not be a pleasant thing to behold; he knew too well how much trouble, though the word was an understatement, he would be in.

That was when said Brute entered. It was the first time that Kratos had ever seen the man, and it was immediately obvious that Marta had gotten her appearance from her mother. Brute was a tall man, dressed in noble robes and had shaved down to only a small black ponytail. In his hands he held a large staff with a monstrous skeletal face carved from gold. He was framed dramatically in the doorway, the lights flickering back on behind him. His small eyes were wide with madness and anger.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he roared, his voice one that echoed with pointless loudness. "I was told that Marta and that blasted Spirit were safely held! _What has happened?!"_

During the distracting moment when all eyes were fixed on Brute, Tenebrae took the opportunity to slip the detonator off of Hawk's neck. "W-what the-?!" cried Hawk as Tenebrae, much to all's disgust, swallowed the small cylinder whole.

"Damned-!" screeched Brute. "Hawk what have you done?!" And the man began to cast a spell, his loud voice bellowing out ancient words as mana gathered around him.

"Daddy, Daddy, no please! Don't do this!" cried Marta.

"I'm not going to let you harm anyone!" growled Emil.

Brute was approaching at a slow pace, mana flickering around him like a physical force. Kratos' glanced around, searching for a way out, when he noticed a back door, partially hidden by the bar.

"Now is not the time to be heroic!" he barked, grabbing Emil by the scarf as he would have with Lloyd's ribbons. He grabbed Marta's arm and dragged them toward the far door that he had seen. The lightning flashed out of Brute's eyes as he saw that they were escaping. His movements twitched for a moment, filtering out the unused mana of his being, and then he raced forward.

At that moment, Hawk made a very bad decision. He raced forward as if to protect Brute from Emil. At the same moment, Brute went to slash at the young Knight of Ratatosk. The pointed golden blade sliced through Hawk, slashing through his chest and stomach. Hawk choked. His eyes widened and a soft, weak gasp escaped his lips.

Brute did not seem to care; he shook the corpse off of his blade with a disgusted "Useless twit" and turned back to the others.

Luckily for them, Kratos had seem many coldblooded murders and had enough sense to use the continued distraction to safely evacuate the others. They were but a few seconds in front of Brute, who they could hear screaming in rage back inside the casino.

When they reached the tram, Regal stopped. "You go, he will be here soon. I will hold him off as long as I can. Be safe."

"B-but Regal-!" cried Sheena, but they were already moving, Kratos was controlling it.

"We have to go back!" cried Marta, "What about Regal and Daddy!"

"Yeah, we can't leave him!"

Kratos ignored all of their cries and pushed them further. It was dawn as they unloaded themselves from the tram, Marta and Emil both silently ignoring Kratos though he guarded them as they moved. It was not until they were almost out of the city when they were finally caught.

"Mart-mart, little Pet, Ratatosk, and that stupid ninja, what are you doing out here?!" cried Alice furiously. Kratos sword, already out of its sheath, was pointed at the half-elf. "I'll _kill_ you; you've made me look bad in front of Commander Brute!" Her voice shot up several octaves as she became more distressed.

"I do not think so," growled a monotone voice from behind. Alice cried out in pain and crumpled. Behind her, the petite form of Presea appeared. "Sheena, what are you doing here?"

* * *

**Heh, managed to finish this at 1:06 PM on Friday afternoon. That was chaotic. Gotta' go eat lunch now, but at least I got the chapter done.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	52. In Which They Meet a Dwarf

**Chapter fifty-two… HOLY S*** I'VE HIT A YEAR!!!!**

***Sniffle*, wow, I feel really, really, really shocked that I actually made it this far!**

**A-anyway…um, yeah, within you shall find wimps, strong chicks, iron maidens, epic curses, Altessa, more hints about the past, and an epic battle of doom-not. MUAHAHAHAHAHA. Go Presea.**

**Disclaimer: Yoshi doesn't own Tales of Symphonia or the sequel.**

* * *

Travel with Presea was quiet and generally uneventful; the child walked with a determination that not even Regal had shown. Her penetrating blue eyes were fixed solely on her goal and her pace never wavered as she lead Kratos, Tenebrae, Marta, Emil, and the monsters that had caught up to them outside the city. The girl, once soulless, had matured much over the two years that Kratos had been gone, he could tell despite the fact that he had not known her well through their travels during the Journey of Regeneration. The trees overhead cast cool shadows over the mossy path that they followed. It was hard to believe that the cold winter that Kratos had arrived to had melted into spring. He had already been back on Symphonia for nearly seven months.

Emil and Marta seemed intimidated by Presea, uncomfortable with their savior from Altamira and did not provide for conversation and even Tenebrae, after an awkward run-in with the girl's "paw pad" fetish, found little to say over the few hours they had been together. They were all tired, having not slept since the night before, but their destination, the dwarf Altessa's home, was not more than an hour's walk from their present location. All seemed to be going smoothly.

Suddenly, Tut, his large body soundless as he raced through the trees, appeared by Kratos' side.

"_We've got a bit of a problem, about a mile ahead those Vanguard assholes have got some sort of blockade set up. I think they're checking for you and Marta."_

Kratos nodded mutely. "I see, thank you Tut." He turned to the others to deliver the unfortunate news. It was taken as he would have expected.

"W-what?!" squeaked Marta, "They're doing this all to catch me, I'm so sorry…"

"Lady Marta, they also want Kratos, do not take the blame on yourself." Tenebrae, at least, seemed to have a cool head. "We will simply have to find a way to trick the system."

"How? Tenebrae, I doubt we can totally fake them out, I mean they're not exactly _bight_ but I don't think we can just put Marta in a different outfit and expect to trick them." Emil looked at the Centurion skeptically.

"…" Presea seemed to think for a moment, "Leave it to me." From the large pocket attached to Presea's belt, she produced a large iron maiden. It looked similar to the one that Decus carried with him. The large, black case, much like a coffin, stood on its own, the face, more like a demon then a human, glared down at them with golden eyes.

"W-why do you have _that?"_ demanded Emil, looking slightly disturbed by the case.

"It was given to me by the Lezareno Company Mystics department. They sell charms and I create charms and they wished to collaborate. This was a sample that I was returning, the reason that I came to Altamira. Marta, please get inside."

"Wait, _inside?!"_ cried the girl. "How will you stop them from looking inside, and what about Kratos?"

Presea eyed Kratos calmly; it was almost unnerving the way her piercing blue eyes took him in. "He is too tall to fit inside, and the both of you would not fit at the same time," she said simply.

"Yes, thank you Presea," grumbled Tenebrae, "We can all see that, what Lady Marta means is how will we get Kratos across?"

"I do not know, Mr. Tenebrae… could you perhaps make him invisible as you do with the monsters?"

………

The Centurion's Shadow had to be the strangest way to travel possible. Kratos _felt_ entirely normal, but when he looked down, he could not see his body. The hand that he held up to his face was nonexistent as far as he could see. The world around him had darkened; it was like seeing the world through a dark mist. The faces of Presea, Emil, and the swarming Vanguard were blurred, but not difficult to distinguish.

Emil looked utterly defeated as he watched Presea drag the heavy iron maiden that contained Marta as effortlessly as she would a handbag.

The first Vanguard to approach was a male; he was scrawny, barely old enough to fit into the uniform he wore. "What is your business, state your business!" He was obviously trying to prove something to someone.

"We live in Ozette, may we pass?" asked Presea in her sweetest little girl voice.

"What's that you've got with you?" he asked, motioning to the iron maiden.

"It is my iron maiden; it is a good luck charm."

"Let's have a look inside then!" He approached the iron maiden, his hand resting on the clasp.

Emil looked panicked, but Presea said simply, "Oh, I would not do that if I were you."

"And why not?!"

"You will be cursed."

Her declaration caught the attention of every person, Vanguard or traveler, present. They all turned to see the small pink-haired child looking serenely at the Vanguard solider as she gave her reasoning as to why he should not open her iron maiden. Even Tenebrae seemed to be playing along because a moment later, the whole wood seemed to darken and a slight wind blew past.

"W-what the hell are you talking about?!" Now that the whole checkpoint was watching them, the soldier was obviously feeling the pressure.

"If you open this iron maiden before it grants its wish, you will be cursed. A terrible curse will befall anyone who opens this iron maiden before it grants its wish. First, you'll experience stomach-churning sickness and diarrhea for seventy-seven straight hours. Then for the following seven hundred seventy-seven days, the king of demons will appear and stick his finger up your nose. Every. Single. Day. But if you're all right with that, go ahead and open it and be cursed."

There were some chuckles, and most of the Vanguard returned to work. The soldier that was checking them, however, was shivering slightly. He was obviously trying to be impressive, but something in Presea's completely serious tone had convinced him.

"H-hah!" his voice was several octaves higher now, "Y-you really think I'm gonna' fall for somethin' like that?!" He seemed hysterical.

"Oh, it is fine. Please, open it. The curse is all yours, I really do not mind. Say hello to the Demon Lord for me." She moved aside, a small smile on her face.

"I-I, uh, you know… Um, why don't you just go ahead." He waved Presea and Emil ahead, not even bothering to check the boy, and Kratos and Tenebrae followed.

………………

"Presea, that was _fantastic!"_ gushed Marta as they continued their passage through the woods. "Where did you come up with that?!"

Presea shrugged and smiled slightly, "I have been coming up with charms for a very long time, curses are just bad charms."

"So, why kind of charm is this thing supposed to have exactly, if it's not what you said?" asked Emil, eyeing the iron maiden wearily.

"They say that if you put the hair of the one you love inside, seven hundred and sixty five days later you will find happiness together."

"So, Presea, have you put anyone's hair inside?"

"That…is a secret," she stated in monotone. Kratos could not tell what she was thinking, nor could any of the others.

………………

Altessa's home was what one would typically expect for a dwarf, more of a cave or a hole in the side of a large sandstone cliff than anything. Still, the flower beds, piles of firewood, and general feel of living that came from the house was relaxing to both Emil and Marta. Despite the pleasant feelings that the home emanated, both children hung back as Presea approached the wooden door, her small fist knocking a beat.

After a moment, the door opened to reveal the owner of cottage. He was short, only a bit taller than Presea and a full head shorter than Emil was. Altessa was dressed in rich green robes and his beard was tasseled in his usual fashion. He seemed to have aged little since Kratos had last seen him, if anything, he seemed more free and youthful. He smiled kindly at the humans and Kratos, (Tenebrae had hidden himself so as not to alarm him.)

"Presea, what are you doing here?" he asked in his gruff fashion. "Who are your friends?"

"It is good to see you again Altessa, this is Emil, Marta, and Kratos. They are friends of Sheena and Regal. I was asked to take them to safety; they were in Altamira, but it has been attached by the Vanguard and Regal is trapped and Sheena went in after him."

The dwarf's little eyes had darkened and he ushered them in, "I suppose they are in some sort of trouble if they're traveling around with you."

Kratos mentally chuckled, it was just like the old dwarf to be cautious, he had worked for Cruxis for several years before running away. Only a few years ago he had been injured almost to the point of death by Mithos during a rather unpleasant bout of events involving Lloyd and Yuan.

"Indeed," Presea was explaining, "Marta is a runaway Vanguard member and she has been traveling with Emil. Kratos is the Summon Spirit Ratatosk."

Altessa eyed Kratos wearily, "Those are two names that I have not heard for a long while," rumbled the dwarf, "I once knew another Kratos, but he is long gone, and the Spirit Ratatosk, another rarely spoken name. I now see why you are getting yourselves in trouble."

"When the Vanguard took Altamira, they barely managed to escape, they are probably being searched for as we speak," Presea said as she hopped up onto one of the chairs in the dwarf's main room, Emil and Marta took incentive to seat themselves as well, but Kratos chose to remain standing.

"Y-you're sure that it's alright if we stay even though we're being chased?" asked Marta nervously.

Altessa choked out some gruff laughter, as dry as his voice, and said "Child, you think I am afraid of some ridiculous soldiers? Believe me; I've had much worse staying under this roof." Altessa and Presea exchanged a significant, knowing look between them.

"Um, thank you?" Emil glanced at Marta and Kratos looking baffled.

"Actually, we will only stay for the night if you do not mind, I plan on taking them to Mizuho, I am sure that is what Sheena would want."

"Hmm, I see. Yes, that is probably the safest place for them."

Suddenly, there was a shout from outside and the sound of someone running in heavy armor.

"W-what's that?!" Marta looked around, terrified.

"It is probably the Vanguard…" Kratos could hear the conversation going on outside; apparently the soldier from the checkpoint had recognized Presea's iron maiden. The Vanguard were on to them.

"Search the building!" commanded a familiar voice: Magnar.

"B-but Sir," said one of the soldiers, "Doesn't a dwarf live here? I've heard you don't wanna get on a dwarf's bad side…"

"Cowards!" crowed Magnar, "What could the dirt-bag do to you?!"

He was obviously not about to stop just because of Altessa.

"They're coming in…" growled Kratos.

"Come, we have to head them off, we cannot put Altessa in danger," said Presea softly, pulling her ax from its wingpack.

"Presea, it is fine; do not get yourself killed over me."

Presea was not listening, she stalked forward, and burst out the door, glaring at the soldiers.

"L-Lady Marta!" gasped one of the soldiers when Marta, Emil, and Kratos followed her out.

"Good!" roared Magnar, "We will return you to your father and the Vanguard, and Ratatosk too, ha, this is my lucky day!"

"I will not let you hurt my friends," stated Presea simply.

"What is a child like _you_ going to do to stop me?!"

That was when Presea attacked. Her ax cleaved through the air, bashing against the gaudy gold armor that Magnar wore. He had brought only a few lackeys with him and they were all attempting to take down Kratos or Emil and being defeated with ease. Meanwhile, Presea was hefting her ax repeatedly against Magnar's spear. He had begun laughing, thinking that her strength would fade, but the crystal on her neck would keep up the pace for hours, Kratos knew that well enough.

Soon, Magnar's laugh died in his throat as his spear snapped and Presea advanced with a coolly murderous look glinting in eyes that were much older than the body they resided in. "You will not hurt my friends."

"P-Presea, wait!" cried Emil, "Let's ask him why the Vanguard is attacking Altamira!"

"Very well, do as you wish," stated Presea, but her ax stayed at the man's neck.

Everyone looked at Magnar expectantly, and he choked out an answer, his eyes never moving from the sharp ax-blade that threatened his Adam's apple. "C-Commander Brute is planning to announce the revival of the Sylvarant Dynasty from there!"

"What? But they're going to get kicked out by the Tethe'allen army, won't they?"

"No, Lezareno is a fortress, they have more than enough supplies to remain there for weeks…"

"Damn it!" cried Emil.

"Y-yes, and our troops are attacking all over the World! The Royal Army bastards will have their hands too full to take care of Altamira too!" Magnar seemed to be gaining confidence from his words. "We must end the Sylvaranti oppression! We are being treated like half-elves, it must end! The use of Ratatosk's Core to revive the mana cannon will bring down upon Tethe'alla the Divine Punishment it deserves!"

Presea had gone pale and her eyes had narrowed. Magnar had said the wrong things in front of the wrong girl. "Divine Punishment," she scoffed, "that is what destroyed Ozette. You do not know 'Divine Punishment.' And do not think for one moment that you can control the mana cannon. Rodyle could not, you have no hope." Her voice was deadly quiet, but steady. Magnar did not seem to understand what she was saying, he scoffed at her words.

"What do _you_ know?!"

"More than you would expect." With no more words, Presea's ax descended and Magnar's eyes glazed and he slumped to the ground unconscious. Presea had struck him with the blunt of her ax, knocking him unconscious. "We need to get you to Mizuho as quickly as possible; it appears that the game is afoot."

"The Vanguard are almost at troublesome as the Desians…" growled Altessa from behind, looking over the corpses and unconscious Magnar. "The mana cannon, wasn't that the machine that your-?"

"Yes," Presea cut across him quickly, "it was."

* * *

**Ohhh! Cliff-hanger!**

**Mmkay, next chapter is Mizuho and then I'll start the infiltration of the Ranch-! ...I-I mean **_**Lezareno Building Number Two!**_

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	53. In Which Infiltration Begins

**Chapter fifty-three.**

**In Which Infiltration Begins, inside you will find ninjas, battles, debates, half-elves, adorable bits of romance, plans, sexy Tenebrae, and foreshadowing! Gods save us, the big stuff starts next chapter…**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or the Sequel.**

* * *

Although Altessa's house was not far from Mizuho, because Presea had wasted no time in getting them out away from the Dwarf so as to cause him no more trouble and hurrying them along the path to Mizuho, it was nearly midnight before they reached the hidden ninja village. The moon was out and full, lighting the simple wooden walls that surrounded the village. Despite the fact that it was night, the town was active with the soft footsteps of near-invisible ninjas as they hurried about their business. The city was small and snug, easy to protect from intruders. Although there were no guard towers, Kratos did not doubt that every soul inside the village walls knew of their presence.

His suspicions were confirmed when, in a signature puff of smoke, a hooded ninja appeared before them. "Who goes there?" he growled softly; his stance was not hostile, but Kratos had no doubt that he could have put a knife in Emil and Marta's chests before they could have blinked. His voice, however, was low and dangerous.

"Orochi, are you well?" Presea's calm tone must have been well known to the ninja, as he immediately relaxed and turned to face the small girl.

"Presea, what are you doing here? Who are your friends?"

"Sheena told me to take them to a safe place; I assumed she was referring to the Village."

"You've talked to the Chief?"

"Yes, but perhaps we should speak with Elder Igaguri as well…"

"Of course, the Sages will want to hear of this as well."

When they reached the home of Igaguri, the elderly, retired chief of Mizuho whom Kratos had never actually met before, they found the old man talking in hushed tones with Raine and Genis, however, all sounds cut off when Orochi, Presea, Emil, Marta, and Kratos entered.

"Emil, Marta, what are you doing here?"

"P-Pres-sea?" Immediately Genis turned a vivid shade of red, having eyes only for the pink-haired girl.

"Hello Raine…Genis," Presea sent a small, affectionate smile toward Genis and both children blushed.

"And Kratos has returned as well…" Raine glowered at Kratos.

Tenebrae appeared from behind Kratos and said in a haughty voice. "Ah, Raine, Genis, how wonderful to see you again."

To his credit, Igaguri was remaining admirably calm, "Well now," he smiled serenely, "I think we have much information to swap."

Thus, explanations commenced. Emil and Marta were forced to once again start from the beginning of the Journey in order to help Igaguri catch up with what was happening. Then it was Raine and Genis' turn to explain their journeys after their separation at the Temple of Ice. As it was, almost _nothing_ had happened to them in their search for Lloyd. They had spent much of their time seeking out old haunts or old friends that Lloyd might have asked favors from, but coming up with nothing but misplaced rumors and worried friends. At one point they had met up with Colette who had claimed to be following one of Lloyd's supposed "trails" through Sylvarant. Still, nothing had surfaced until they had come to Mizuho.

Next, was Kratos' turn. He was certainly the most interesting of the group, the fact that he was "Ratatosk" coupled with how he had been the one to see Lloyd the most of any of them. He, however, politely declined. The debate was becoming mildly heated; Raine and Genis were both yearning for information on their friend and untrusting of Kratos. He was growing agitated with them as well, and something drastic might have happened had the Vanguard not attacked at the precisely the correct moment.

The entire populace was gathered outside the village facing an army of Vanguard soldiers. It was not until Kratos and Marta were seen, however, that they attacked. Mass chaos broke out as soldiers and ninjas leapt at each other, swords clashed and shouts of pain came from the fallen.

"W-we have to help them!" cried Emil.

"No, we can handle things here, you three sneak out the back," commanded Raine while Presea and Genis nodded.

"No, we're not going to abandon you!" Marta was glaring across the battlefield as her father's troops attacked the people who were trying to help her. She would _not_ abandon these people; if not for them, she would have been dead long ago.

"I agree with Marta." All eyes fixed on Emil, his red eyes glittered, but not with their usual blood-thirst. "We can't just run, running will only get us in deeper. We'll be backed up against a wall with no way out. We have to take on the responsibilities of the war that we started."

Kratos nodded, Emil-Ratatosk-was correct, they would only get themselves in farther if they ran now. Something was ending. This was the Vanguard's master plan, and it was not only not an option to let it succeed, but perhaps the only time that Brute would be let to public eye. They knew where he was, and the only way to take down the Vanguard was to take down the mastermind behind it. "We will stay." He turned to Tenebrae who had appeared to better contribute to the debate. "Tenebrae, find the monsters, we are going to need all the help we can get. Emil, Marta, stay close to me, you are not used to fighting armies."

Both teenagers nodded, and Raine and the others seemed to understand that they had been overruled. "Right, but be _careful," _commanded Raine.

………

Kratos had not fought a battle like this since the Kharlan War. It was bloody, neither he nor the Vanguard were about to take mercy on their adversaries, and Kratos was distracted, constantly having to slay the men who snuck behind Marta, the ones that Emil could not. His blade was coated with red as was his person. Every so often, he would see a lithe ninja or the sparks of Raine's light mana or hear explosions and feel the heat of Genis' explosion spell.

After a few minutes, in between waves of soldiers, Kratos realized that Emil and Marta were no longer right behind him, doubling back on himself; he found them speaking softly. He was far enough away that neither noticed him, however, he could hear every word they said.

"These bastards just don't stop coming!" grumbled Emil, though there were no attacking soldiers at that moment. "They were like this in Palmacosta."

"Y-you remember?!" Although Kratos could not see Marta, he could picture her eyes widening.

"Yes, and you've been running ever since. You thought that Ratatosk, Kratos I guess, could solve all your problems. You thought that he could save everyone after he came to full power."

"That's-!"

"But Brute has Solum's Core, and now you have to face him anyway."

"Emil…"

"Stop running Marta, we will do this together."

"Emil, Marta, Ratatosk!" Kratos flinched as Orochi's voice echoed over the-Kratos was only now noticing-emptying battlefield. "The enemy has retreated for the moment, we must return to the Village to heal and prepare!"

Mutely, Emil, still in Ratatosk mode, took Marta's hand and led her back toward the Village, Kratos following silently. When Emil turned around again, his eyes were green.

………………

"So, the Vanguard are staging riots across the world…" murmured Genis, "The government was already weak, but the Vanguard is tearing it apart. Since the government was so entwined with the Church of Martel, now that… And even Dorr was corrupted by the Desians… Grr! Damn it Mithos!"

"Genis!" Raine snapped. "Watch what you say!"

"Professor Sage, I have to agree with Genis…"

Raine looked irritated. "Merely because I reprimand Genis does not mean I do not agree!"

Emil and Marta both looked mystified. Kratos could have found it amusing were the circumstances not so dire. "If you are quite finished Ms. Sage, the weakened government aside, we still need to find a way to defeat Brute and obtain Solum's Core as well as save your friends."

"The best way would be to launch a sneak-attack at Lezareno," stated Orochi, "Our troops may be capable of doing so, as long as we have your help."

"Yes, the rest of the world is far too concerned with the small-scale problems. The only way to end this is to go to the source of the problem." Igaguri agreed with his ninja.

"We are in as well," Raine nodded her consent.

………………

The travels that followed their silent declaration of war were slow, it took them nearly a day to traverse back to Altamira, and it was nightfall by the time they reached the resort, though they had started out early that morning. He, Raine, Genis, Presea, Marta, Emil, Tenebrae, and the monsters were to take a different path from that of the ninjas that were to accompany them. Later, once they had reached the city, the seven of them would infiltrate the Lezareno building while the people of Mizuho attacked from the outside, drawing most of the guards and, hopefully, leaving a clear path through to the control center.

Huddled in the woods that were their last refuge before the city, the group awaited word from Orochi and his scouts. When the ninja appeared, it was in his usual fashion, the startling puff of smoke and his calm, stiff attitude.

"W-whoa! Orochi, you scared me!" cried Emil.

"Y-yeah…" Marta, who had leapt a good foot in the air shivered and scooted closer to Emil, "I'm glad you're on our side…"

"Agreed, I was quite startled." Everyone turned and looked skeptically at Presea, her voice as vague and monotone as usual.

"You don't _look_ very 'startled'," grumbled Emil, obviously ashamed that he had jumped while Presea had only stood there.

"T-that's our P-Presea!" chirped Genis, "She's not afraid of anything!"

"Did I not just tell you that I was startled?"

Genis turned as red as one of Lloyd's favorite shirts.

"Anyway…" Orochi continued, "It appears that the Vanguard have made Lezareno Building Number Two their main headquarters-"

"-You mean there's more than _one_ of them?!" cried Genis.

"Of course, Lezareno is a large company, not all of its works can be housed in one building," Orochi glared down at Genis, "_As_ I was saying, it is heavily guarded, and there's no back way that you can sneak in through, we may all have to take the front entrance and hope Brute does not have an emergency exit…"

"Perhaps we could use the employee entrance."All eyes turned to Presea, "Regal once showed me an entrance that he said would take you to the Lezareno headquarters. We can only hope that he meant Building Two."

"Well, it's worth a try…Sneak into the hotel and see what you can do, contact a scout when you find out what's happening." Without another word, Orochi disappeared.

"Man, sometimes he can be a real ass-" Genis was cut off by Raine smacking him over the head.

"Language, Genis."

"S-sorry, Sis…Anyway, it's like infiltrating the Ranches all over again, 'cept this time we don't have Lloyd…" Genis sighed. "But at least we have backup, we didn't have any for the Palmacosta Ranch or the Asgard Ranch."

"Yes, it will be nice."

They had begun to walk toward the city, hoping that the ninjas were taking care of visual from the make-shift watch towers that surrounded the city. From beside his elder sister, Genis smirked, "But we _can't_ blow anything up this time, I think Regal'd be really mad at you if you wrecked his building!"

"It is not as if I destroyed them for _fun!"_

………………

"Damn, how are we getting past those guards?"

The city was overrun with Vanguard, though, now that it was late evening, they seemed to be between shifts, only two guards guarded the hotel, their destination. Now would be the only time that they could make it before more guards came…

"Yeah, we can't start a fight…" grumbled Genis.

Tenebrae ghosted in behind them. "You only need to get them away from the entrance, correct?" All eyes were now fixed on the Centurion.

"What did you have in mind Paw Pad?" Presea blinked.

"My name is _Tenebrae._ And the plan is…this!" With that, Tenebrae disappeared, and Celsius took his place. Her blue skin glittered frostily in the setting sun and her short, blue hair bobbed teasingly around her shoulders. "This should distract them!" The effect was ruined by Tenebrae's voice, heightened by a few octaves and made "feminine." The effect destroyed what he had done.

"That…is creepy." Genis' statement seemed to sum it up quite well.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but that might just work…as long as you keep your mouth shut," Marta sighed. "Martel save us…"

"I miss Paw Pad…" mumbled Presea softly.

Those words seemed to be enough incentive to get Tenebrae moving. He walked straight through the front doors and into the city. His hips swayed and his gait was slightly appalling. As he passed the guards, he raised a blue hand and giggled, though it was obviously faked, both men fell for it. Their eyes wide, they followed the Centurion further down the road, toward the far end of town. By the way they stared at Tenebrae, Kratos silently wondered if Centurions also had a small amount of mind control.

"Hello beautiful!"

"Now _you're_ an angel fallen from heaven!"

Kratos raised an eyebrow at the men's antics, only slightly less disturbing than Tenebrae's own.

"If you three would _stop_ staring," grumbled Marta, referring to the males of the group. "We should get going before those guys realize they're dealing with a drag!"

Marta stomped off, Raine and Presea following behind. Emil looked sheepishly at Kratos, "That's really creepy…"

………………

"Since when do Centurions have a sense of beauty?" grumbled Marta. "Tenebrae, that was just _weird!"_

"I take offence to that!" cried Tenebrae, "We Centurions have a perfect sense of what is beautiful in the extra space world!"

"Well then, do you think I'm pretty?!" snapped Marta.

"Why of _course_ Lady Marta, you are very pretty."

This seemed to lessen Marta's resentment. "What about Raine and Presea?"

"Both very beautiful," Tenebrae smirked.

"Well then, since you're such an expert, who's the prettiest?!"

"Oh, that's simple!"

"Oh really?" Raine raised an eyebrow.

"Me!"

They should have seen that coming.

………………

"Lloyd!"

"Bud! Thank the Gods we found you-! Hey, who's your friend?!"

Colette and Zelos extra space raced across the Altamirian plains toward their red-clad friend and his…associate.

"Guys, what are you doing here?" Lloyd looked surprised, taking incentive to step in front of his darkly cloaked friend.

"We heard about Altamira, we thought we had to come and help!"

While Colette was explaining, Zelos was working to get a better look at Lloyd's companion. He worked his way around Lloyd, trying to get an improved angle. There seemed to be no good way to see him, however, the cloak he wore covered every bit of him and left nothing visible to an outsider.

"Good to see you too, Zelos, leave him alone." Zelos looked up guiltily, "We should get inside and split up, we can cover more ground that way." Although that was not what either Colette or Zelos had had in mind, they could not deny Lloyd's logic.

"I guess, but wouldn't it be safer to combine forces?"

"Nah, you guys stir up trouble and we'll go for the top. See you on the inside!" Lloyd took off, his long legs carrying him quickly over the flat terrain.

"Good to see you too, Bud…" grumbled Zelos.

"I'm sure he's just got a lot on his mind…" murmured Colette, never one to think badly of anyone, let alone Lloyd. "That must be it…"

"His friend…"

"I wonder who he was…"

"I don't know what he _was,_ but I know for sure he wasn't human."

Colette's wide blue eyes met Zelos' and both shared a moment of worry. What had Lloyd gotten himself into _this_ time?

* * *

**Being sick sucks.**

**Meh, hope you enjoyed the chapter and the foreshadowing and whatnot.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi **


	54. In Which Chaos Ensues

**Ladies and gentlemen, here is Lezareno Building Number Two part One!!!**

**Within you shall find…clumsy miracles, ventilation climbing, separation, psycho-daddies, super-sadists, Core-crazed Decus, and a very, very good old friend.**

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or the Sequel.**

* * *

The parties had split; Presea, Genis, and Raine had gone off to create a distraction while Kratos lead Emil, Tenebrae, and Marta to find Brute. Their path was swift, as the dual distractions between the people of Mizuho and the Heroes acted like magnets, attracting every soldier to the immediate threat. The elevators and corridors had tightened security, creating a complicated maze of halls and passages that they navigated, hoping to find Brute at the end.

Every way they turned, they saw more evidence of Vanguard graffiti. Entire walls had been vandalized with names, logos, inappropriate words and insults, Vanguard banners had been hung from the walls as they had in the city. They had destroyed decorations, art, plants; the expenses must have been enormous. Every so often, they came across a stray soldier; all were easily picked off, their bodies subtly hidden from obvious sight as the party continued.

Kratos took point, as he always had in the Desian Ranches, while Emil and Marta hung back, Tenebrae taking the hind, as they moved. Though Kratos focused his eyes forward, his ears were sharp and open, he was aware of soldiers moving ahead and above them, the dangers they presented. But more so, he was aware of the soft speaking and intimate gestures exchanged. He turned away, gave them their privacy, though he would have thought this the wrong time for such activities.

He had known of their growing affections for months, but in the short time that he had been away, something had blossomed, and they were far more…_aware_ of each other. Kratos heard the sound of skin against skin and Marta's soft "thank you Emil" and knew that the child had taken her hand. The only way that Marta was capable of facing her father was with Emil's help; however, he wished they could focus better.

Kratos was tense. One could hardly blame him, he was one of the prime targets for the Vanguard, though their reasoning was inaccurate, but simply the act of being in enemy territory was getting to him. His hand was constantly gripping his sword and his shoulders were tensed.

For some time they were able to pass without much trouble other than the fallen that marked their path, but soon enough, Kratos heard the whisper of footsteps and the soft whistling of a rapier slicing through the air marking the appearance of Alice.

"I thought that you would be taking the long way while your friends caused a distraction." Alice smirked, but it was weak, distracted.

"Alice, what the hell do you want? It's not like you not to bring an army to back you up, and you can't take all three of us!" snapped Marta, Kratos had to agree with her assessment, Alice was rarely seen without backup of _some_ sort, be it men or monsters. Now, however, she was completely alone.

"Oh, Mart-mart, do you think I can't take you? No, I suppose I couldn't, you've got Ratatosk on your side, but if it were just you and the little Pet you wouldn't last long. But I'm not here to fight, I need your help."

"And what makes you think that we would help you?" Tenebrae seemed almost amused at the idea.

"If you help me, I'll take you straight to Commander Brute. I swear no tricks!" She seemed to be sincere, but Kratos knew her far too well from their few encounters to trust. "Please, it's Dumbo Decus! Ever since Commander Brute took the Centurion's Core back, he's lost it!"

"Lost it?" Marta seemed concerned, despite herself.

"Yes, he _pines _for it! That's all he can think about!" Alice's eyes seemed to harden, and Kratos could not help but think her jealous of the theatrical man's new obsession. She was obviously fond of thinking herself his only love, his only passion, playing with his heart. Now that it was not hers, she was growing in resentment. "You're the Ratatosk Spirit; you must be able to do _something!"_

Though Kratos doubted that he could have done a thing for Decus, Emil and Marta made the decision for him, following Alice as she flounced off down the hall. Kratos and Tenebrae pursued only because Emil and Marta were following. Kratos had a very bad feeling about this expedition, and, from the dark look he shared with Tenebrae, he felt so as well.

Alice lead the way to a large room, the floor was covered in decorative shapes and the walls hung with more Vanguard banners. At the back of the room was Decus. His breathing was loud and shallow, and his hands were bound, held by the iron maiden that he had so proudly displayed. His head was hung and his clothing lip and dirty, as did his periwinkle hair, as if he had not bathed for some time.

"Give…me…Solum's…CORE!!!" He roared, his voice was low and raspy; he had been shouting…or screaming. His legs flailed as he attempted to free himself from his iron bindings.

Kratos and Tenebrae hung back as Marta and Emil moved forward, Marta's feet clicked softly as they moved over the mosaic tiles that decorated the floor. Suddenly, Kratos realized that it was not the girl's heels that were making the noise, but a mechanical mechanism. Kratos went to call out, but it was too late. As Marta stepped over the center of the mosaic, her feet did not meet with the ground and she plummeted to some unknown destination several floors below.

Kratos felt Alice's little hands grasp his wrists from behind; her nails digging into his skin, though, thanks to angelic traits, it did not pain him. He was able to twist away easily enough, and his sword was drawn and held to the girl's neck, her pale skin parting to let for a thin line of red.

"A-Alice, you lied to us!?" It seemed like such an obvious question, of _course_ she had lied to them.

"N-no I didn't!" she trilled, stepping back and moving a hand to wipe at the trickling red on her throat. "Decus really has lost it! But Commander Brute really wants Mart-mart and Ratatosk, I'm really just doing my job! But I'm not stupid enough to think I can take an all-powerful Summon Spirit on my own, I'll let Decus take care of you and come back in for what's left of you. Have fun!"

Alice's flight was hurried, and, though Kratos lunged for the closing door, it was slammed in his face, the sadist's laughter still echoing in the empty room.

"This is really bad…" Emil did not remove his eyes from the struggling form of Decus. "How are we getting out?!"

"Perhaps we could pry the cover from the passage…" speculated Kratos, still glaring at the door. However, his thoughts were interrupted by a sharp cracking and Emil's horrified gasp.

"Decus! Kratos, Decus is breaking free!"

Kratos spun around to see Decus struggling to free himself; one arm already free and the other being tugged hard enough to dislocate it. He was stumbling forward, his crystal eyes glazed, much like many of the zombies that Kratos had fought in past Temples (though, in reality, zombies were not the reincarnated bodies of deceased humans, as was thought, but a specific type of monster…ugh, Tenebrae was getting to him.)

"Damn it, Emil, move!"

Kratos rushed in, sword drawn, expecting to merely ward off the possessed man, but the plan failed when Decus mindlessly blocked Kratos' strong swing with his unprotected arm. Kratos was forced to pull back, lest he sever the man's arm, and, though he was the bastard who had imitated his son, Kratos had no desire to cause him limb loss.

"The hell?" he hissed, Decus obviously had lost all semblance of self-preservation.

"SOLUM'S CORE!!!" roared the other man, stumbling forward. "WHERE IS SOLUM'S CORE?!?!"

"H-he's completely lost it!" cried Emil, but this only caused the crazed man to turn on him, the boy's green eyes widened and he stumbled back a few steps, only to hit the wall behind him. Decus moved forward, and Kratos was torn: save Emil by cutting down Decus, or attempt to remove the danger without hurting him? He had to make the decision quickly.

As Decus lurched forward, Kratos sheathed his sword and, feeling completely moronic, leapt at the Vanguard, causing him to lose balance and tumble forward onto Emil. From the struggling pile, a small bottle rolled and the cap popped off, releasing the fowl smelling liquid.

The stench made Kratos' eyes water and he heard Emil cough, but Decus' struggles had more or less ceased. Kratos wondered humorously if the zombie, Core-crazed Decus had more of a sense of smell then the norm.

"W-what the-?" he gasped, his voice, though still gravely with misuse, was lower, its normal tone. "Where am I? What the hell is going on here?!"

"That nasty cologne brought him back to his senses!" cried Emil, but this only served to confuse Decus more. He struggled to gain his footing, and Kratos happily moved off of him.

"Y-you, your that kid, my Fan, and you're Ratatosk!" Kratos mentally sighed; he was growing utterly _sick_ of this misconception. But Decus' eyes were beginning to glaze again, Solum's controlling power stronger than even the stench of the cologne.

"Kratos, we have to get out of here!" cried Emil as he too watched Decus' decent into darkness.

"Agreed, but how-?"

Somewhere, someone was pulling strings, Kratos was sure of this, for at that moment, the far wall _bonked._ There was a loud thump from the far side of the wall, and voices echoed through, intelligible to human ears and perfectly clear to Kratos' own.

"O-oh no, I did it again…"

"Colette, hunny, are you okay? Hey, why's it beeping?"

"What?! Oh, I broke it!"

"I'm actually not sure you did…"

Suddenly, the wall on the far side of the room slipped open and Colette Brunel tumbled through, landing dizzily on her back. Kratos doubted he had ever been more pleased to see her.

"Emil? Kratos? Hey, who's your friend?" her blue eyes twinkled as she looked at what must have been an odd scene normally, portrayed upside-down to the blond Chosen. From the dark corridor where Colette had fallen through, Tethe'alla's Chosen Zelos poked his red head into the room.

"My, my, Hunny, you've done it again," He beamed, "And it's Emil and Kratos too! …And that bastard who kidnapped my sister!"

Colette stood, "They look like they're in trouble, come on guys"

Without a second's hesitation, Kratos grabbed Emil's arm and dragged him through the new door. From behind, he heard Decus call "Hey, wait!" but he did not hesitate, quickly sliding the door closed behind him.

"So, may I ask where the lovely Lady Marta is?" asked Zelos, never one to waste time, "Aren't the two of you usually inseparable?"

"Alice kidnapped her and locked us in there with Decus, he's gone crazy from the Core, and now we have to find Marta!"

"Alice sure causes a lot of trouble, you'd better be careful, but since we're all here, may as well work together. You looking for the leader dude too?"

"Yes, Brute is Marta's father, he's being possessed by Solum's Core, that's why we have to talk to him and make him see reason!"

"Somehow I don't think that'll go over to well, most guys like that, Core or not, tend to be a little unstable…Hey, wait a second, where are Sheena and Regal, I thought you were traveling with them too!"

"They, too, are lost somewhere in this building. Regal stayed behind when the Vanguard first attacked, and Sheena saw us to the edge of town before returning after him. Presea, Genis, and Ms. Sage are all here as well."

"Wow, then everyone's here!" cried Colette, clapping.

"Everyone? You mean Lloyd's here too?"

"Yeah, Lloyd and his creepy little Mini-Me friend. The cloaked one, you know him?"

"We finally met up with Lloyd outside Altamira last night, and he told us that we had to split up to cover more ground, we've been in here since last evening."

"For some reason, Bud thought we couldn't work together, so we've just been wandering around getting rid of those Vanguard idiots, I've only gotten rid of two Ranches, but from what I can tell this is a lot like that."

Kratos felt a grown sense of disease. From what he could tell, Lloyd's "friend" was not Yuan, though "short and cloaked" described the half-elf well. Why would Yuan be hiding if it were he? Too many unanswered questions, ones that he assumed he would know soon, Lloyd had never been particularly good at keeping secrets.

"Wow, getting rid of Desian Ranches sounds terrifying!" Emil shivered, "But how did you get in here without the Vanguard noticing?"

Both Chosen smirked and drew their wings, filling the tight space with pink and orange light. "We have our ways." Zelos' smirk widened. They pulled their wings back in, and the Chosen sobered again, "So, you were saying that we needed to look for Marta, huh, well, I guess we'll just have to wander around for awhile and hope we find something."

"Or you could just follow me…" The four spun around to see Sheena leaning against a wall behind them. "I wondered what was up when she landed in the room I was checking out, but then I heard you guys and I figured I'd find out what was going on before I dragged her with me."

"Sheena! Did you find Regal?" cried Emil.

"Haven't seen hide-nor-hair of him, but I see you managed to find the most _obnoxious_ help in the place."

"Hunny!" whined Zelos, "That was completely uncalled for!"

Kratos sighed softly and said loudly, "Where exactly was it that you saw Marta, Sheena?"

Sheena, who was about to slap Zelos, looked up guiltily, obviously embarrassed at being so easily distracted and said, "Oh, r-right, come on, follow me!" Using her exsphere, she leapt up into an open vent, probably the way she had snuck up on them, and her purple-sheathed fingers beckoned from inside. "Come on!"

After a few seconds, the entire party was crammed into the ventilation system, following Sheena as she retraced her steps. It was a tight fit, but after a few moments, the tunnel widened enough that they could actually all stand, and Sheena pointed to another grate in the vent, through this one, they could see down into a plush room where Marta and her father seemed to be fighting.

"No, no Daddy, it's the Core! The Core is possessing you; this isn't even Ratatosk's Core! Please, you have to listen to me!"

"Marta, my poor daughter, once we eliminate that horrid spirit, we will remove the Core from your forehead and you will understand what we are doing! Ratatosk has been controlling you, that is why you have been misled."

"_No_ Daddy," wailed Marta, "It's_ you_ who's being controlled! You have to listen to me!"

As Brute moved better into their limited line of sight the light glinted off of his shaved head. He was still carrying his large, decorated staff. "Have you already forgotten that the Church is responsible for the destruction of Palmacosta _and_ your mother's death?!"

"Why are you so impossible?! You don't care about Sylvarant; all you want to do is rule it!"

Brute's eyes were mad, insane and unforgiving as he eyed his teenage daughter, "I will return soon, and then we will remove that accursed thing from your body." He left, his regal robes billowing behind him.

"Well," whispered Zelos, "this is turning into a _real_ adventure, complete with psycho-daddies. Now where have we seen that before…?"

Kratos felt anger bubble in him; he had never liked Tethe'alla's Chosen, and the man had expressed his own disregard for Kratos dozens of times, however, the idea of using the Chosen's thick_ skull _to break through the metal guard through the ventilation appealed to him at that moment.

"Be nice Zelos, Mr. Kratos helped us out a lot!" Colette scolded him, "But we should focus on saving Marta."

They followed Colette down into the room, Zelos quickly shutting up and following his fellow Chosen. Marta's eyes were wide as she watched them drop down one by one.

"Y-you actually came for me?!" she cried softly and Emil ran forward, untying her with gentle hands.

"Of course, what would we do without you, Marta?" They shared a moment, green eyes met blue and Marta seemed close to tears. Of course, this was the cue for Tenebrae to arrive.

"Pardon me, but I do believe that several soldiers are coming this way, it may be in our best interest to continue on _before_ they find us here."

Emil and Marta both turned to glare at Tenebrae, but Kratos cut across them. "Now that we have found Marta again, we should resume our search for Brute and the Centurion's Core. With our increased numbers, force is now possible, if necessary," he added at the end upon seeing Marta's eyes widen.

"Right," Sheena took charge, "everyone back in the vent, we can follow that to the top floor and sneak up the president's office, we can wait there to ambush him."

It was back into the vent that they went, their succession close and slow moving through the dark, cramped space, but it was not far until they reached the top floor. Sheena quickly peaked around, and, upon finding the coast clear, dropped down from the vent. "Come on you guys, hurry!"

They did so, and moved swiftly down the hall, as they turned to ascend the rather dramatic staircase that led to the president's office, the elevator, not far from their present position, "dinged" and the doors slide open. From the plush depths walked Genis, Raine, and Presea.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Super Gorgeous Ultra Beauty, my little Rosebud, and the brat."

"Nice to see you too, jerkface." Genis stuck his tongue out at the elder man.

"You guys are alright!" cried Marta, "I'm so glad!"

"Well what did you think?" Genis grinned, "We've taken on worse than the Vanguard!"

Raine raised a vicious hand threateningly, "Do not get cocky, Genis. Pride comes before a fall."

"Listen to your sister, Genis," The teenager blushed bright red as Presea's cool gazed turned from him to the rest of the group, "Are you going to confront Commander Brute now?" She asked.

"That was the idea…" Colette nodded, "But I hope we don't have to fight…"

"Somehow I don't think anything but violence is going to get through his thick skull," Sheena blushed, "No offence Marta."

Marta sighed, "None taken, I understand that Daddy's being terrible, but I still don't want him to get hurt…"

"Then let's go before someone finds us here." Emil led the way into the office.

When they entered, Brute was standing by the desk, apparently looking over a few papers with two of his cronies, when he turned and saw them. "What-? Marta, what are you doing here? And the "World Saviors…" He chortled darkly, "So you still think that you are on their side, my daughter?"

"Daddy, give us Solum's Core, I don't want to have to hurt you, but you are _being controlled_, if you don't turn over the Core, we will use force!"

"Please Brute, can't you listen to your daughter?!" Emil sounded desperate. "What you are doing is wrong and-!"

"I have heard enough of this blasphemy and lies! You will hand over my daughter and the Ratatosk spirit or face my wrath!" Brute's face was twisted into obscene hatred, his eyes dark and clouded as he glared. Power sparkled around him and lightning crackled through the air, directly toward Kratos, he leapt out of the way, and the others scattered as well.

Raine and Sheena tumbled out of the way, both colliding with the far wall while Zelos attempted to catch both Presea and Colette and, though he saved both of them, hurt himself quite badly in the process. Emil had saved Marta, the girl standing horrified as her father attacked her, and he was helping her to her feet. Genis had tumbled forward, dodging under the lightning and landing at Brute's feet.

Brute grasped the young half-elf by the collar and held him up, dangling a foot from the ground. "I am tired of hearing your preposterous attempts to stop me. Now, hand over the Cores or the boy suffers!"

Everyone was frozen, Genis was far too close to being hurt, they could not risk him, yet Kratos was _not_ Ratatosk, and Marta would be hurt by the Core's removal. Brute would not see straight even when his entire life was destroyed before his eyes.

Luckily, all these questions were answer for them by the arrival of an unexpected guest.

"Get your hands _off_ Genis, you bastard!" growled a voice from behind. All turned, and a collective gasp echoed around the room.

"I-impossible!" gasped Raine.

"But he is…" whispered Presea.

"Gods," moaned Zelos, "Tell me this isn't happening."

Sheena pinched herself, and her short yelp of pain answered the question: they were _not_ dreaming. This was _not_ a hallucination; he was _truly_ standing in front of them. Mithos Yggdrasill returned from the grave.

* * *

…**I think I officially count as devious…Didn't see that one, did you?**

**Mithos: Hands off my boyfriend, bitch!**

**Everyone: O.o**

**Genis: Mithos, my hero! Wait, didn't we kill you!?**

**Yoshi is a very happy authoress right now.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	55. In Which The Truth is Revealed

**Chapter 55 In Which Emil and Marta discover a Troubling Truth.**

**So…Mithos is back. Yup, Mimi has returned from the dead. As a response to a review I got, there will be no further mention of Mithos/Genis in anyway other then friendship. I personally actually support that pairing, but the AN was simply something that a friend and I had been joking about and I figured someone else would get a kick out of it as well.**

…**But I suppose my rant is simply irritating most of you who just want your story, so here.**

**Chapter fifty-five, inside you shall find…Mithos, Lloyd, Yuan, Martel, Richter being too revealing, rivalries, trees, lots of explaining, and a moment that **_**everyone has been waiting for!**_

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie doesn't own Tales of Symphonia or Mithos would have pounded Richter into the ground in the first few seconds of the second game.**

* * *

Mithos was not quite as Kratos remembered him; he seemed more mature. Mithos wore his child form, though his hair was a bit longer and he was not wearing the usual angelic white that he had favored over the past four millennia. Instead he had donned the black cloak that had marked Lloyd's "friend" and beneath he was wearing a simple dark tunic and pants. It was surprisingly modest for the normally flamboyant Cruxis leader. His skin was pale and his eyes dark as he observed the leader of the Vanguard, there was the old ruthless look that he had given the humans who had looked down upon him.

"Put Genis down," he growled, looking for the world as if he could have destroyed Brute in a moment.

"And what will you do if I do not?" Brute snorted. "You hardly look like you should be out of the nursery, brat!"

"Shut up, inferior being!" From his hand Mithos unleashed a small orb of light mana, though it had been aimed for his face, Mithos adjusted at the last second, causing the blinding mana to collide not with his face, where it would have been lethal, but his stomach. Brute crumpled and dropped Genis, the boy, after a moment of staring, ran to his sister.

"D-Daddy?" squeaked Marta. "What did you do to him!? Who are you?"

"Mithos…" growled Kratos, "You are dead." It was a simple statement of fact, not a threat. Kratos had seen his old pupil fall at his son's hand in the Hall of the Great Seed. It was not possible that he could be standing before them here, now…and yet he was.

"I _was_ dead," corrected Mithos coldly, "and it is good to see you too, Teacher." Kratos had not heard himself referred to as such for thousands of years, or mockingly, but there was an air of sincerity that Mithos expressed: something that made Kratos almost hope…But the impossibility of the situation made logical thinking impossible. "Oh, would you calm down? He's not dead," he snapped at the weeping Marta.

"Colette, who _is_ this guy?" asked Emil, turning to Colette, but the blond Chosen was frozen, even she seemed hesitant to embrace the return of their old enemy. "How did he take down Brute like that?"

"H-he's…" she stuttered.

"Mithos Yggdrasill." The half-elf's lips were upturned into a small smirk as he watched the eyes of the older members of the group widen. "The one and only."

"Impossible…" came a choked voice from behind, signaling that Tenebrae had arrived. "Mithos has to have been dead for four thousand years…"

Mithos looked away, "It _has_ been a long time Tenebrae."

The Centurion, for once, was speechless. Unfortunately, the Chosen of Tethe'alla was more eloquent. "Well _shit,_ I guess that puts the Vanguard second on the bad guys list."

"Shut up Traitor!" snapped Mithos, "If you haven't noticed, I just _saved_ you. I wouldn't jump to conclusions. Besides, at least I helped, unlike _someone."_

Suddenly, one of the two Vanguard soldiers that had been in the room watching their leader fall, collapsed, the other smirked widely. "You were doing fine Mithos; I did not think I needed to interfere."

"Yuan?" all eyes fixed on the soldier as he pulled off the mask and helm to reveal the pointed ears and blue hair of Yuan. Kratos blinked in surprise; he was about to demand to know what was going on, when the door, once again, burst open and Alice marched in looking smug, Regal being dragged by two soldiers a step behind.

"Hmm…I see you've defeated Commander Brute, Richter's not going to be happy about that. But no matter…Now, hand over your Cores and the Ratatosk Spirit or he dies!" Alice's rapier tickled under Regal's chin. The man already seemed half-dead; he hung loosely in the men's arms.

"I think I like her." Mithos' smirk widened.

"Who the hell are you?!" Alice's eyes flashed.

"Mithos."

"I'm not interested kid."

"Neither am I. Now, release the inferior being or I'll be forced to do to you what I did to your commander." Mithos' words were lazy, as if he was hardly aware he was saying them.

"Try it Brat!"

Mithos was unable to unleash his angelic powers upon Alice, however—though Kratos would have been very satisfied with watching her dissipate in angelic mana—for, at that moment, Decus burst in. He must have had some sort of sixth sense that warned him of danger for his beloved. "GIVE ME THE CORE!!!" he bellowed.

Or perhaps it was simply luck.

"The hell?" Mithos looked rather disgusted as he watched Decus race past all, toward the immobile form of Brute. He reached into Brute—literally—and pulled out Solum's Core. Then pandemonium broke out. Decus, still holding the little yellow core that he had pulled from Brute, was tackled by both Yuan and Emil, while Alice screeched and ordered the men to drop Regal and attack. This they did, and were met by Zelos, Sheena, Colette, and Presea. Kratos and Mithos, in the meantime, were avoiding the icy spells and lashing rapier of Alice while Raine, Genis, and Marta all crowded around Brute, whose health was obviously deteriorating now that the Core was gone.

Alice, though no match for the Seraphim in strength, deleted "but she" was fast and small. Is seconds she had avoided another blast of mana from Mithos and slipped under Kratos' arm, slipping out the door and past Lloyd who had just appeared to assist in the battle. The red-clad boy, after watching the battle ensuing in the other room for a moment, turned and chased after Alice. Kratos and Mithos followed, leaving the others to take care of Decus.

Though they were not far behind, Alice knew the building far better than they, and she managed to disappear, leaving them to congregate in a lower room. By that time, however, Kratos was no longer intent upon Alice, but his son, and, more so, discovering exactly _why_ his son was in league with the resurrected Mithos. "Lloyd, what the hell is going on?" He rounded on Lloyd, suddenly very glad that his eyes glowed.

Lloyd paled under the glowing glare and stuttered, "Uh…improvising and emergency- emergency back-up plan?"

"I feel loved…" Mithos grumbled from behind.

A door slammed and the three angels spun around to find themselves face-to-face with Richter. The other man had pulled out his sword and sickle combo and stood battle-ready. Kratos' hand flashed to his sword, as did Lloyd's, but Mithos simply eyed him coolly. "Lloyd Irving, the Shepherd of Regeneration, the false Ratatosk, and some brat child, how did _you _get in here?"

"Child?" growled Mithos, "I am sure as hell not a child you bastard!"

"And _children_ should watch their mouths."

Enter here Mithos' eyes narrowed, he was obviously very close to breaking point, but again, Kratos' thoughts were far from the present conversation; how did Richter know that _he was not Ratatosk?_ Lloyd's thoughts seemed to be traveling along the same lines, though he said nothing. "I see that Brute was a useless tool, I'll have to take care of you myself."

"If you think you can take us then try it!"

Richter was upon them in an instant, his blades swinging and his eyes blazing with fury. Kratos and Mithos were both out of the way while Lloyd blocked, his swords creating an X as he held off Richter's sword. Mithos unleashed a sphere of blazing white mana, which Richter deflected with his sickle. Kratos charged from the right, his sword aimed for the other man's arm. Richter was forced to shove himself back, using Lloyd to gain momentum, to avoid the blow that would have severed his arm.

The instant he regained his balance, the half-elf was charging at Kratos, his blade swinging toward his stomach, Kratos blocked and Lloyd came at him from the side. Richter was forced to block the arm-numbing blows of both Lloyd and Kratos. He was unable to get a single blow in, but he remained untouched, his block was strong.

Mithos remained to the outside of the fray, waiting for an opening to take down Richter, but it was proving impossible as the three warriors were moving too swiftly for him to interfere. The sound of metal on metal and the grunts of all three men as they battled filled the room.

Suddenly, Richter was out of the fray, Lloyd and Kratos' swords met each other's and both turned to face Richter. The half-elf was casting a spell; it was something dark, something that could have done substantial damage to both angels. He, Mithos, was not about to allow such actions, and he lifted his hand and shot a glistening ball of his own mana toward the focused Richter. He was blasted to the side and he slammed into the far wall.

He staggered to his feet as the elevator _dinged_ and Emil, Marta, Colette, Presea, and Zelos entered the room. All eyes flashed to them, their surprised faces and shocked reactions. "R-Richter, what are you doing? Don't hurt him!"

"You…" Richter's voice was low, his eyes glittering with malice. "You monster, you who takes the form of Aster, you who _killed_ him. You are Ratatosk, not _him_," Richter gestured to Kratos, "He is an _imposter_, lying to protect you. You Emil, you are Ratatosk!"

Richter could not have brought more pandemonium if he claimed that the Goddess Martel was not a Goddess in the middle of Meltokio's cathedral. Marta and Colette gasped, Lloyd groaned, Mithos rolled his eyes, Presea stared, Zelos muttered something to the affect of "should have seen that one coming," and Kratos facepalmed. It was Emil, however, that reacted the most violently.

At first, with green eyes wide, he seemed ready to deny it, and then he grew angry, his eyes flashing to red. His fists clenched he raced forward, but he made only a few steps before collapsing. Marta cried out and ran forward; she lifted Emil up onto her lap, holding him gently. "Emil?! Emil, wake up!"

"So, the kid's actually Ratatosk…" muttered Zelos, "Why doesn't that surprise me? But then who's the Old Man?" His words seemed to catch the attention of Colette and Presea; both females eyes widened and they stared at Kratos. Mithos and Lloyd, though acutely aware of Kratos' discomfort, focused their efforts on Richter.

Mithos sent more light mana toward Richter, but it was deflected, this time not by Richter himself, but by a shimmering blue shield. "You will not hurt Master Richter, Pact-Breaker!" Aqua appeared in front of the man. "I thought you were dead!"

"And I had hoped you'd be one of the dormant Cores…" grumbled Mithos.

"Aqua, stop fighting with him and get us out of here!" snapped Richter.

"Yes Master Richter." With no further ado, Aqua transported Richter away, leaving Kratos, Lloyd, and Mithos to clean up after them.

………………

The return trip to the Tree was quiet. Lloyd was well aware that his father was not happy with him. No one had told Kratos yet what was happening with the former Leader of Cruxis, and he was still not sure of _how_ such a phenomena had come to pass. Furthermore, he did not know whose side Mithos was on.

Yuan was in the worst shape from the battle, he and Emil had both gotten a few bruises and scratches from their fight with the possessed Decus, but it was nothing a small amount of healing mana could not right. They were all tired from the long hours spent on infiltration, but luckily, Yuan had brought Rheairds so it was not a long trip back.

Kratos, perhaps against his better judgment, was returning with Mithos, Yuan, and Lloyd. He had left the rest of the group, Emil, Marta, and Tenebrae recovering in Altamira. With the Vanguard mostly disjointed and their leader unconscious, being held by the people of Mizuho, the raids had stopped and Tethe'alla and Sylvarant were recovering, Meltokio having sent assistance to Altamira. Lloyd had given instructions to the group to come to the Tree after they had recovered. Then, he, Kratos, Yuan, and Mithos had left.

Marta had refused to face Kratos, and he did not blame her, and Emil had been unconscious for much of the past few days. Lloyd had not wanted to stay, so he had passed his message on to his friends and they had left.

It was not until the next day, a full day since the siege on Altamira, that Kratos finally received the answers he had been waiting for:

"You see," stated Yuan coolly, "Lloyd found plans for creating artificial life, amongst other things, in Rodyle's Ranch. In addition, it seems that Rodyle had stolen Kvar's, diagrams of dissected exspheres, the inner workings mapped out and explained in detail. It was Lloyd's idea to combine the two to reunite a fallen individual's soul with a new, artificial body.

"The ability to take a simple chromosome and unwind the DNA in order to artificially simulate meiosis and-"

"Uh…before my head explodes can we just call it cloning? That's more or less what it was; we just aged the clone really fast by attaching one of the Cruxis Crystals I found in the Ranch…" Lloyd was grimacing and rubbing his temples. "Just get to the part about finding Mithos in my exsphere…"

Yuan rolled his eyes before continuing, "Fine then, because we did not have a DNA sample from Mithos we had to extract it from Lloyd's exsphere, as, according to Kvar's notes, in order to better understand the host that it attaches itself to, exspheres literally take on a part of their host, mimicking their DNA. It was only a matter of searching for the correct strand, as exspheres can grow on multiple hosts and take on DNA from each. After finding the correct sample, we were able to replicate it and create a body that was physically identical to Mithos and then aged it so that we did not reinsert Mithos directly into a child's form.

"Because Mithos' Cruxis Crystal was an addition to Lloyds, not part of the parasitic process, it was not difficult to locate the correct pieces and, more specifically, the area that would hold the soul of the host, for each Cruxis Crystal retains a small part of a person's soul, eternally attaching the separated, dead soul to this world. We were able to locate Mithos' soul and replace the workings of his old Cruxis Crystal, the one that Lloyd destroyed, and place it into a new host Crystal, by this means reinstating Mithos' soul into an identical reproduction of himself."

"…About all I got out of that is we brought him back from the dead…" grumbled Lloyd.

"And that is all you need worry about."

"My question has yet to be answered, Yuan, _why_ have you brought Mithos back from the dead?" Kratos glared again, this time; however, his eyes were fixed on Yuan.

"That is something that you will have to ask your son…" grumbled Yuan.

Kratos' eye fixed on Lloyd who seemed to pale under the gaze, "Uh…see, it was kinda a spur of the moment thing, but I mean, who knows more about Ratatosk than Mithos, ya' know?" Lloyd was talking quickly, nervous to defend his choice. "And if anyone deserves a second chance, it's Mithos, you know? He's on our side too! We have a tight leash called Martel…"

At this, Mithos grumbled. "A _tree_ spirit, that's what became of my sister? It took her identity and-"

"Mithos, _you_ took her identity first if you failed to notice!" snapped Yuan. "All these "Goddess Martel" lies were started by you!"

"But at least she was still my sister then! Now she's part of the _tree-"_

"Then why are you still here? You could just as easily walk out; there are only three of us and I am sure that it would take little extra effort to defeat us," Yuan said coldly. "Well?"

Kratos stiffened, he felt his shoulders tense and his fingers brushed the hilt of his sword, but both Lloyd and Yuan only watched Mithos coolly. The angel did not move but to cross his arms and glare at the ex-Renegade and the Eternal Swordsman. "…You know I can't do that…"

………………

Kratos, though still mildly disturbed by the appearance of Mithos, was growing used to seeing the little blond head of Mithos with Lloyd, Yuan, and Martel as they did the basic chores and lived the simple lifestyle that living by the Tree implied. It was as if Kratos had never left; he and Lloyd would spar, Yuan would either be yelling at Mithos or Lloyd or tinkering with technology in his basement, and Mithos could often be seen walking with the Goddess Martel.

It was Martel, Kratos had later learned, that was the reason Mithos was not about to take his revenge on humanity. The half-elf, though he resented the idea that his sister's identity had been stolen for the Spirit's, could not resist talking with her as if she was his sister. She did not mind; part of her _was_ the old Martel, and she was happy to see her brother again. Kratos doubted that the other souls that resided in Martel were quite so fond of the boy who had caused their deaths, but if they rebelled, Martel showed none of it.

It was almost cute to see them walking, Martel's hand either resting around his shoulders or running though his hair like the old Martel had; her voice was soft, much like the old Martel and she held all of the old memories of the woman that had lived four thousand years ago. When he was with her, Mithos seemed to forget that she was not his sister. This was why Mithos was remaining loyal to his side.

A week passed before Emil, Marta, and the others arrived at the Tree as were Lloyd's instructions. They brought with them Kratos' monsters whom he had been greatly concerned for though he had been unable to return for them.

"_LK, don't _abandon _us like that again!"_

"_Yeah, majorly not cool. You ditch us for these guys again?!"_

"…_Everyone missed you Master Kratos…"_

Kratos was forced to sit for some time and explain why exactly he had abandoned them in favor of Lloyd, Yuan, and Mithos. It took some time to calm down Tut and Eon repeatedly interrupted him, however, in the end, they forgave him.

He had not truly been concerned about regaining their trust; it was only a warm-up for what he would have to face with Emil and Marta.

He felt like he was on the wrong side of the battlefield while looking over the crowd of old friends and new. The mist that seemed to congregate around the perimeter of the tree cleared enough that Kratos could see Emil's hurt green eyes and the animosity in Marta's blue. The others were all eyeing them with the same part-curious part-angry stare.

Kratos stood with Mithos behind Lloyd and Yuan; it was not their place to explain what was happening, it was Lloyd's.

"So, Yuan, you are the keeper of the Tree now?"

Yuan crossed his arms and nodded, "Indeed, now, to business. Ratatosk is awakening for the first time in four thousand years," he looked over at Emil, his emerald eyes glinting even through the heavy mist. "This change will not come about with some…pain."

Emil cringed, "What are you saying? That I'm really Ratatosk?"He wished that it were not true, he said it as if his very being _depended_ on Yuan's denial. He was disappointed.

"You are Ratatosk," after a moment he added, "And you are also Emil."

The boy's head had dropped with Yuan's conformation, but he looked back up, his eyes glittering hopefully. "Please, I don't understand what's going on…You have to help me!"

"Yeah, Yuan, tell us what's going on! You helped out a lot, why didn't you tell us any of this. Don't tell me you _didn't know,"_ Marta glared at Yuan; the angry look barely phased the elder male. "You've been lying to us from the beginning! You _and_ Kratos!"

"Emil, what are you? Are you human, or are you Ratatosk?"

"I-I want to be human…" whispered Emil, his words were barely intelligible over the sound of rushing water. "I don't_ want _to destroy everything…"

"That is what we would—Mithos, shut the hell up or I'll ram a lightning ball up your ass!" Yuan spun on the adolescent half-elf, glaring. This, however, only served to cause Mithos to laugh harder. Watching him giggle—his natural laugh, not the insane laughter of the Cruxis leader—almost made Kratos' lips quirk into a small smile as well. "What the hell is so funny?!"

"Y-you!" Yuan looked appalled and very, very annoyed. "You _suck_ at being nice!"

At these words Lloyd started laughing as well and Yuan looked offended. "H-he's right!"

"Kratos, control your spawn!" Kratos, however, only leaned back against the cliffs that surrounded the Tree chuckling slightly.

"They're right Yuan."

Yuan glared at his friends before turning back to the group. "Fine. Look, Kid, you _are_ Ratatosk, get over it. Unfortunately that isn't something we can just undo, you're stuck with it. On the up side there is a small chance—mind you it's pretty damn small—that you could have some control over stopping the "I-want-to-destroy-all-mankind-because-Mithos-is-an-asshole" plan. But that's a miniscule chance. So, if on the off chance that you _can_ help, we won't have to kill you."

Lloyd looked disgustedly at Yuan. "Ignore him, he's bitter 'cause this is partially his fault and he knows it. What he _means_ is we need you around. We don't want to kill you, that would only turn you back into a Core, Ratatosk was not only the guardian of the Giant Kharlan Tree, but he also took care of the Ginigumagape-"

"Ginnungagap, Lloyd…"

"-Gingaungagap, yeah, whatever. Anyway, that is the magical door that separates us from Niflheim. If the door went unprotected demons could get to our World more so then they already are and put the entire world at risk. We can't afford that and we would rather do that peacefully then force you to. At the orders of the other Summon Spirits we've been working on sealing the door again, but when we found out about you, Emil, we—well _I_—figured that maybe there was a better way." Lloyd grinned. "Because you exist with Ratatosk as the same person, you are actually a part of Ratatosk, not just an extra made-up personality, you have some control, you are his conscience."

"So…you're saying that even if Ratatosk wakes up there's a chance he won't want to kill everyone 'cause Emil will stop him…?"

"Indeed, though we'll have to find a way to stop Ratatosk from completely taking over until we are ready," stated Yuan.

"And if we can't…?"

Yuan turned to face Emil, one aqua eyebrow arched. "I think we'd rather not think about that option and hope for the best."

"Oh…"

"That's all fine and dandy," grumbled Zelos, "but if that's what's been goin' on, then why the hell didn't you let _us_ in on it?!"

"Yes, Lloyd, we could have helped you!"

"I didn't want to put any of you in danger, and Ratatosk's presence puts Martel and the Tree in danger. I know you all well enough to know that the secret couldn't be kept long enough, and one of you might accidently tell him something and then Ratatosk would realize who he is too early and we wouldn't have control of the situation. We were too spread out."

"Be we were worried about you, especially after the reports from Palmacosta!"

"And I didn't know what was going on in Palmacosta, I couldn't face you if I didn't have answers. The whole thing had to be conducted in secret…I'm sorry guys…" Lloyd looked away, obviously uncomfortable with the frustration of his friends.

Genis sighed, "Man Lloyd, you're still the idiot that you've always been. You had everyone freaked out afraid you'd really lost it this time!" There was a murmur of agreement from the others that Lloyd had traveled with, but they seemed to be warming to him. "But…it's good to have you back."

Lloyd looked up, his red-brown eyes sparkling. "You really forgive me? I was kinda' an ass…"

Raine cleared her throat. "As wonderful as all of this is, I think there are two questions that still have yet to be answered. Lloyd, how is Mithos back, and, if he is not Ratatosk, then _who_ is Kratos?"

"But? Wait, _who is Kratos?_ He's _Kratos._ Dad, like "I am Kratos, an asshole, if you can pay me I'll take you to the Tower of Salvation, betray you and turn out to be your _father._" KRATOS AURION. That question is conta- contridi-"

"Contradictory, Lloyd"

"-What Yuan said! HE IS KRATOS."

His friends did not look convinced and Emil and Marta only looked between Lloyd and Raine in confusion. "Lloyd, that is impossible," the half-elf said coolly. "Kratos left. Who is he really?"

"…How do you not get this Professor?" Lloyd looked completely dumbfounded.

"_I believe I can explain." _

Lloyd leapt a foot in the air, as did all but the Seraphim as Origin appeared and Martel stepped out of the shadowy mist, her silvery robes shining. _"The confusion was my fault, you see, I knew that Ratatosk, pardon, Emil, would need protection. Advanced protection and, therefore, I needed to place Kratos in the right place at the right time without much interference. Unfortunately, that did not work as planned; however, it has all turned out in the end."_

"You mean to tell me," growled Kratos in a soft, deadly voice, "that this was _your_ doing?" Had a mortal been standing in Origin's place they would have melted under the furious glare of Kratos. "This entire ordeal has been _your_ doing?"

"_I suppose I should apologize for that, when Yuan asked for my assistance in returning you to this World, I could not help but see an opportunity. I should apologize to you as well, Eternal Swordsman, it was my power that caused your metamorphosis."_ Origin's voice was filled with amusement at the horror written on the faces of the group.

"You-? I-? The _hell_ Origin?!" Yuan looked mortified. The rest of the group seemed to have similar feelings, though Emil and Marta were both simply staring in further confusion. Lloyd and Kratos were both near ripping Origin apart, be him Spirit or not. Only Mithos was still laughing.

"That is amazing!" His next words were choked with humor and incomprehensible.

"Martel," Lloyd rounded on the amused Spirit, "you knew about this too? The whole time?"

"Indeed," the Spirit's lips twitched.

"Oh Gods…" muttered Raine.

"Damn, I guess the Four Seraphim are back."

* * *

**Long chapter. Long, long, long, I-covered-craploads-of-stuff-long chapter! On the up-side, I covered just about everything. There'll be more in-depth stuff on what Emil and the others were doing next week. In the meantime, hope that answers most of your questions…have any more, that's what the review button is for.**

**...Can you tell I've spent way too much time in biology? **

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	56. In Which Conversation is Made

**Chapter 56**

**In Which a Heart is Sealed includes apologies, memories, dreams, Pokémon rip-offs, Emil POV, Mithos, and Noishe. We're in the home stretch now, I foresee about three more chapters and an epilogue. Another side note on this chapter, we'll be returning to Martel Temple, I'm skipping the dungeon-y bits and skipping straight to the good stuff. They've got the Sorcerer's Ring, what's the point of running through this old, decrepit place? **

**Disclaimer: By now we should all understand that Mystic Yoshie does **_**not**_** own Tales of Symphonia or the sequel. **

* * *

It had to be in the form of a memory. It just _had_ to be through his eyes; that made it more realistic. It made him have to be Ratatosk, because, as Lloyd, Kratos, Yuan, and Mithos said, he was. That did not mean though that he needed to be able to feel every blow that the memory brought back, every hit that he could not block landed against his body and sent a spasm of pain through his body.

"_Please, Lord Ratatosk, the world can't survive without your help!" the gray-eyed boy called out to him. "The new balance that holds the World can't control the mana like you can! The World if falling apart, it needs your help!"_

"_Even if I adjust the flow of mana, the world will die without a Tree to sustain it and create mana." His voice was bitter with resentment and anger. It was _his_ tree that had held the world before the humans had begun that war, a war that had worn the Tree and killed it._

"_We have heard that a new Tree has been born. The World is safe, if it is a Tree that makes that difference than that must be what saved us!" The boy—Aster—was so filled with hope, but it did not brighten Emil—Ratatosk—but made him angry, furious. How could the World still live when everything was wrong…?_

The Tree. That must have been what Yuan was protecting, the little sprout. Emil could not help but feel uplifted when he was near the little plant. They had not told he and Marta everything, saying that the more accurate version of the story would have to come later, for now the World needed saving.

All that they knew for now was that Mithos had somehow been in league with the Desians, he had been defeated by Lloyd and the others and that was how they had stopped the Desians in the first place. He was now "back from the dead," although, according to Yuan he had never really been dead to begin with, but he was…and that Kratos, who everyone now knew, and Yuan were all connected. Lloyd had grinned and rubbed the back of his neck, running his fingers through his hair, as he did quite often, as he explained.

"See, it's way more complicated than that, and stuff, but right now it's really all you need to know. You'll probably get it when more of your memories return, but in the meantime, don't worry about it."

"_So? If there is a new Tree, then you hardly need me!" The scorn in his voice, it almost hurt Emil to hear it._

"_So we need you to use your Centurions to control the flow of mana!" The way Aster's eyes flashed and his hands clenched…he was truly desperate for his cause. "It's the only way to save the world!"_

_There was a pause as memories, many memories, ghosted through Emil's thoughts. Finally, after a moment, they settled on one, and he spoke, his voice loud and commanding. "Awaken Centurions, restore the bond with your monsters and repair the mana of the World!" He saw Aster and Richter's eyes light with hope, but his next words saw the hope to turn to horror. "And destroy the beasts that murdered my Tree!"_

_His voice dripped with anger, those men…The "monsters" were not monsters, but mankind, those with human blood, those like Mithos the _Hero_, they were the true monsters!_

He had wanted to destroy the world. He did not want that now! Even if a part of him did blame the humans for killing his Tree—Ratatosk's Tree—there had to be a way other then eradicating the entire population to get revenge. That was how Lloyd thought too, they had stayed two nights at the Tree and Lloyd, Yuan, and Mithos and joined with the others as the close proximity of Yuan's house squeezed them together.

Emil had quickly grown fond of Lloyd, Kratos was back and, though Emil and Marta were both sore about being lied to, they were forgiving him for better or for worse. Yuan and Mithos, however, were a little harder to love. Yuan Emil knew from several previous meetings, and he could only call the half-elf pompous and haughty, while Mithos was a bit harder to place. He was friendly enough with Genis and even Lloyd and Kratos, but toward the rest of the group, he was distant and quiet, almost shy. It seemed so in contrast to how he had first acted in Lezareno that Emil had purposely reserved judgment until later.

"_No! W-what the hell do you think you're doing?!"_

"_You wanna' save the World?" Ratatosk scoffed, "Then the only way is to destroy those who put the World in danger, humans and the like!"_

"_You don't have to kill everyone-!"_

"_If a new Tree has been born, then it is only a matter of time before you kill it as well. I am doing what is best." His tone turned mocking as he spoke the last line._

"_That's not true-!"_

_Ratatosk did not let him finish, anger bubbled over, anger at Mithos, anger at this new Tree, anger at the human and half-elves and elves that had warred and destroyed his Tree, the Giant Kharlan Tree was no more, and his fury could only be taken out on the child that stood before him. Power gathered and Aster was blasted back, his back hitting the cold ethereal floor of the Ginnungagap chamber._

_The way he landed he could only be dead; his green eyes were still open, but glazed, and his expression was one of surprise; no anger, no horror, no fear, just shock. His body crumpled around him, arms and legs bent in unnatural directions._

_His friend, the half-elf, stared for a moment, then, with a scream of pure fury, he charged._

Now that the dreams had been explained, they no longer came; instead, they were haunted by the sight of Aster's mangled body. But, as Emil raced to try to stop himself from committing the murder, the body that lay, eyes wide, at his feet was no longer Aster's, but his.

"Foolish boy!" Ratatosk would laugh, "You think that any simple-minded plan of _yours_ can stop me? I am Ratatosk! You are dead and you do not even realize it yet!"

Emil would look down and stare into his own green eyes, opened wide and glazed with death. They stared unseeingly into his own. And they, the world would flip, and it would not be the dead Emil's eyes that he would see, but the glistening red eyes of Ratatosk, still wearing his—Aster's—body.

"Pathetic, you can do nothing."

Sometimes the dream would change, sometimes it was not Ratatosk that leaned over him; once it was Mithos, once Lloyd, once Kratos, and, once, on a most terrifying night, Marta. Her laughter was cold and cruel and he had awakened screaming.

_He was defeated, every blow that Richter hit burned against his being. He struggled to dodge, he was weak, and he was still frail from four thousand years of sleep. _

"_Y-you bastard!" choked Richter, "how could you _kill_ him? What the hell did he do to deserve your hatred?!" Richter's sword pierced his chest and the world went black._

Emil understood, though the memory ended, that from there, Tenebrae had rescued his Core, and Aqua, who had first lead Richter and Aster to the Ginnungagap, had helped Richter to track him down again. After much chaos, Tenebrae and Marta had saved him, and he had awoken in Palmacosta, placed the false Core on Marta's forehead and been mistaken for Emil by his dying mother. As a whole, his life as Emil had only been about a year, and he was having problems coming to terms that he was not _him._

He was, as Lloyd continuously pointed out with Colette and Zelos chiming in.

But Emil had very little time to ponder over the meaning of dreams or the cryptic stories of Lloyd and the others; he had a mission to complete and a world to save. The plan was simple in theory and complex in practice, they were to go to Verius, the Summon Spirit of Heart, and ask him to combine the personalities of Emil and Ratatosk.

Simple, but, as it had been pointed out, Emil might very well be wiped out by Ratatosk, or he could lose his memories, or any number of other bad things and, as Kratos had pointed out, the bad side-effects tended to come about far too often for his liking.

Marta had been acting strange as of late, and her worries had been put on Emil's shoulders when he, being the moron that he usually was, had insisted that she hell him what was on her mind. "Emil I…I don't want Ratatosk to go either! I promised him that I wouldn't ever make him go away! But I don't want you to disappear either…" To her words Emil had had no answer.

Despite his silence, her words haunted him; her doubt was like a poison blade. He had always known that if she believed, he could not fail. Now, she did not know; she loved Ratatosk too, and Emil knew that he would have to make the choice that would risk her sadness or lose himself and, perhaps, the world right along with him.

They were walking on the grassy trail, the Rheairds that Yuan had lent them (emphasis on _lent)_ having been returned to their wingpacks as they made their way through Iselia forest toward Martel Temple. Yuan had, much to Emil's private pleasure, remained with the Goddess Martel and the Tree, claiming that someone needed to protect the Tree from whatever demons Richter was raising. Mithos wandered far behind the others, he looked somewhat forlorn, and, Emil, completely understanding his pain, dropped back to wait for him.

"Hey Mithos, what's up?"

The other blond looked up, his own blue eyes did not reflect the light from the bright sun, but seemed to glitter with their own eerie light. The look that he gave Emil was almost scornful, but, though it still was rather offsetting, he had learned that it was simply Mithos, there were very few other emotions that showed themselves through the first few minutes of conversation. Mithos shrugged slightly, his eyes again diverting. "Nothing I guess, just… _Martel_ Temple, ya'know?"

He did not, but he nodded as if he understood.

"You'd think that after four thousand years I'd forget and forgive. You'd think that I'd have to out of necessity. You'd think that it would just _stop hurting_. But it doesn't. It never will." Mithos was not talking to him but ranting to himself; his eyes were forward, not looking at Emil but staring into the distance, a distant past that Emil could not see. "But forgetting…that's worse, that's like abandoning them all together. But if you can't abandon them, then what happens when the pain is too much to live with? What should I do then…?"

Emil had no answer, and Mithos, after a moment of silence, seemed to come back to himself, he glanced up and then quickly back down. "I don't know what to say..." murmured Emil. "I-I guess I've never really lost anyone. I'm Ratatosk…I've just _killed."_ He added the last part bitterly.

"Heh," Mithos chuckled darkly, "I suppose I should apologize for that, shouldn't I?"

"What do you mean?"

"You'll understand eventually, but…" he sighed. "The apology is useless anyway, I suppose. We just have to save the world; that must be worth something…"

He sped ahead and joined Genis and Lloyd's conversation with far more gusto than normal. Emil watched, not entirely sure what to feel.

"Mithos has made many mistakes in his life; he is trying to redeem himself but does not know where to begin." Emil jumped and spun around to face Kratos. The older man towered over him, looking down at him with a slightly pitying air.

"What does he have to apologize to me for?"

"He…Well, you shall discover in time I am sure."

"Whatever it is, I forgive him for it."

"Can all sins be forgiven so easily?" Kratos' voice was heavy. "Shouldn't you at least know the sin you are forgiving before you forgive it?"

"Is there a sin that can't be forgiven?" Emil diverted his gaze. "I hope for both Richter and my sakes that there is none. Besides, as long as you feel regret and try to right your wrongs, then why shouldn't you be forgiven?"

"Ah, I see that is where your mind has wandered. Lloyd says much the same; that is why he wanted to give Mithos a second chance, his life was cut short, though it was prolonged to inhuman lengths, by the death of his sister at the hand of a human. He grew furious and insane. He began to kill and murder and manipulate; the world was putty in his hands. Lloyd ended his reign, but it was with a heavy heart."

"So he's getting a second chance?"

"Indeed, so the Spirits have allowed, he is a help to your mission, as was I, that is the reason we have returned."

"How do you know Mithos?"

The question was abrupt and Kratos eyed him for a long moment before replying. "He was my student, I his teacher and guide. He, his sister, Yuan, and I all traveled together for many years. During that time we became family to each other, Yuan and Mithos' sister even engaged, much to Mithos' horror." Kratos chuckled warmly at the memories. "The world was perfect until the day she was killed."

"She must have been amazing…" murmured Emil. "I would like to have met her."

"You have…" whispered Kratos almost too softly for Emil's ears.

"What was her name?"

"Martel."

………………

It was Kratos' worst nightmare, even Emil could tell. Dirk saw Kratos, and Kratos glared back at the little dwarf. Dirk's dark eyes widened and he looked between Lloyd and Kratos as if his adopted son could make Kratos disappear. "Lloyd!" grunted Dirk, obviously trying to be upbeat. "I's good ta' see ya' agin!"

"_LLOYD!!!"_ Lloyd spun around, as did Kratos, Emil, Mithos, and Marta just in time for the last four to jump out of the way of the large green and silver Protozoan. _"My Martel where the hell have you been?! I missed you! No more running off and leaving me!"_ Noishe was licking Lloyd in between gasping out his scolding words. _"And you brought everyone back too!"_

"N-Noshy, down Noshy!" Lloyd tried and failed to shove Noishe off of him while Kratos watched in amusement.

"_What's the magic word?"_

"_Please!_ Noishe, _please_ get off!"

Emil and Marta were both chuckling as the big "dog" retreated off of Lloyd and turned to grin doggishly at the rest of the group. "Noishe!" Colette squealed and she and Genis ran forward and began to fawn over their old friend.

"Damn spoiled mutt…" grumbled Dirk to which both Kratos and Lloyd rounded on him. Kratos gave him the familiar murderous look that Emil had seen a million times and Lloyd seemed to sigh as he looked between his fathers. It must have been odd, Emil realized as he looked between the three men, he had never had _one_ father, Lloyd and two, and they hated each other on principle. Lloyd looked helpless standing in between his birth father and adoptive father, so helpless, in fact, that Emil felt the need to step in.

Or, rather, he would have had Mithos not done so first. "So, this is the dwarf I have heard so much about, I'm Mithos Yggdrasill." The dwarf did not seem to notice how false Mithos' smile was, however, the rest of the group, including, it seemed, Noishe, did, and they tensed waiting for Lloyd's judgment. The Eternal Swordsman, however, only ducked his head to hide a grin.

"Wait…what?" growled Dirk, looking between his son and the half-elf. "Yggdr'sill, you're tha-"

"Well, we _must_ be on our way, nice talking to you Dad, but we've got to hop inside and save the World again, ta!" With that, Lloyd steered Mithos and Kratos into Martel Temple, ignoring Dirk's call of "wait jus a damn secon!" and calling out behind him. "Come on guys, Dad's leading the Martel Temple Fieldtrip!"

There was a collective sigh from behind and Emil heard Genis call "Nice one Lloyd!"

Martel Temple was a large building, built deep into the cliff side with only the entrance and open upper chamber. The insides were made of cold, wet stone, and Emil wondered how anyone could have chosen this as their home, let alone a place of worship for their goddess, be she false or not. All the same, they made quick progression deeper into the Temple.

Emil naturally feel back, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, the other hanging free, looking for Marta. Much to his horror, he found her in the company of one Zelos Wilder. "-the future I'd just be careful what you say, the truth sets you free and all that shit, but a lot of the time it also switches the chains to somebody else. Just think about that in the future." That was when he caught sight of Emil. "Ah, just the man we were waiting for! Until next time Lady Marta!" Zelos rushed ahead and threw his arms over the shoulders of Mithos and Kratos, something that only he would have the guts to do.

"What were you doing with him?" Emil tried to suppress the jealousy in his voice.

"He was just giving me advice…" Marta looked away. "Emil…I'm sorry. I-I said some things that I shouldn't of. You're life is hard enough without me trying to save everybody. You need to make the choice for _you_ not for me. I'm sorry I put so much pressure on you."

Oh. So that was what Zelos had been giving her "advice" on. Emil could not help but glance up at Zelos, the Chosen had been shoved off of Mithos and Kratos, but he was still with the leading group, apparently, or so Emil assumed by the swift glances he was receiving, he was telling him what he had told Marta. Emil turned his green eyes back to the girl, she had been through so much, including every maze, lie, and hardship he had, perhaps more, and here she was apologizing for simply feeling bad for Ratatosk.

Emil could not deny that he sometimes felt bad for the Spirit as well.

"It's okay Marta, I-I get it. I'll do everything I can to help him, I promise." Unfortunately he would have to keep that promise.

………………

The altar was huge. It was the only thing in the room and it dominated, the enormous structure came up to Emil's waist easily, towering over Genis, Presea, and Marta. It was made of cold stone, but decorated with swirling red marks, it almost looked like words, yet Emil could not distinguish a single character from the decorations.

"So…how do we summon Verius?"

"We don't. We're at his altar, so he should come on his own in a minute…" Sheena looked some cross of eager and nervous, as if seeing her old friend again was nerve-racking. The others seemed a little more at ease then she did, Kratos and Mithos were speaking quietly, Zelos was teasing Raine and Genis, Presea was watching the altar with apt fascination and Regal with only a small amount less interest, Lloyd was smiling at him, and to this Emil tried to smile back a bit, though it seemed to fail. Colette had moved up to talk to Sheena, the only person who was as nervous as Sheena was Marta, and Emil preferred not to think about her reason for nervousness.

It was then that Verius made his appearance. As with the majority of Spirit appearances, he appeared in a small eruption of light that caused the party to jolt, all eyes now fixed upon the large fox-like Summon. Verius was enormous; he took up the entire altar and, though his posture was relaxed, Emil felt a bit of fear bubble in his stomach.

"Corrine!" cried Sheena happily.

"_Hello Sheena, and you have brought the others as well, it is good to see you all again."_ The Spirit's voice seemed to echo, as if it was not coming from the Spirit's mouth, but echoed from inside him. Perhaps Verius was speaking through their hearts, or perhaps Emil was simply panicked. _"And Ratatosk—Emil—it truly is a pleasure. However, it seems you do not come for but a social visit. You are conflicted; you are searching for a way to save everyone. I fear I must warn you that this is impossible."_

Emil stared at the Summon Spirit; he felt as if his stomach was doing summersaults, up and down, twist and release, he only hoped that Verius would not start on _why_ he was conflicted… "P-please, there must be something you can do!"

"_Indeed there is, but you must truly make up your mind before I can help you. I will be watching…"_ With no further ado, Verius vanished. His abrupt departure left Emil staring. How was that supposed to help?

"Well, that was…counterproductive…" Mithos rolled his eyes.

"I hate to say this, but I agree with the twerp," grumbled Zelos. "Verius didn't do us any good."

"Shut _up_ Zelos!" Sheena's hand flashed and Zelos let out a yelp. "There's only so much he can do, leave him alone!"

"Guys, guys cut it out-!" But Lloyd's calls were unnecessary, as, at that moment, the shaking began.

* * *

**Good, good. I covered almost everything I meant to this chapter. Next chapter will be the last one before Ginnungagap begins.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi **


	57. In Which They Enter the Underworld

**Chapter 57…Über meh…**

**Lots of action, some psycho Emil, massive issues, an island that no one ever wanted to see again, Seraphic problems, a family visit, several quick disappearances, and a looming battle all comprise this chapter. Man that sounds screwed up.**

**Two Chapters and then Epilogue. **

**Disclaimer: Yoshi's been too busy with homework to save up enough money enough to purchase Tales of Symphonia yet so it still belongs to NAMCO. **

* * *

"I-it's an earthquake!" cried Genis, his voice higher than normal with fear. The room shook and parts of the Temple began to tumble around them. All reacted violently, but no more so then Emil. The boy collapsed, this being the second time in several days it was only Marta and Raine that raced to his side. The quake subsided as quickly as it had come, but it left the group feeling, for lack of a better word, shaken. Something could happen, the very mana seemed to quiver with some anticipated horror.

Emil was hunched in on himself, his eyes closed and a spasm went through his body; the muscles that he had developed since the Journey's beginning twitched and rippled. He muttered under his breath, insanity; his breathing was quick and irregular, but he was unhurt.

"Emil! Emil come back to us!" Marta was panicked as she held her unconscious friend. "Emil!"

Suddenly, Emil's head snapped back, his eyes wide and a bright, bloody red. "Don't touch that!" he roared at some far off opponent, "Damn it!"

"This…this feeling…" Tenebrae appeared beside Kratos. "The Ginnungagap has been…opened."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what?! You mean the giant seal that stops demons from getting into the world? Someone _opened _it!? What idiot would do that?!" Lloyd cried.

"That red-haired guy from the Vanguard. Rick, Iren…no that's not it, Rein…R-something…"

"Richter."

"Yeah, that's him!" Mithos snapped his fingers. "He was pretty good for a normal half-elf; he didn't even have an exsphere! I thought his power was just dark elemental when he tried to throw that spell at you, but now that I think back he totally had demon mana!"

"Are you saying that Richter's been making pacts with demons?" growled Kratos. "Damn it!"

"What do you mean, "Pacts with demons?" Are you saying he's borrowing power from the demons like I borrow Summon Spirit mana?"

"Something like that, but the only place he could get enough demons would be that book that you guys fried during the Journey or the Door itself. From what we can tell…well, the bastard obviously just opened the Ginnungagap."

Emil jerked, his head thrown back and he screamed, mana, invisible to the bare eye ricocheted around the room. It burned Kratos senses and seemed to be doing the same to the others that could sense mana. "STAY AWAY FROM MY DOOR!"

"Emil, Emil is there anything we can do?!" Lloyd took a few steps toward Emil.

"Actually," murmured Emil, his voice Ratatosk low, "there _is_ something…you can hand over all of the Cores you _stole!"_ With those words, Emil lashed out at Lloyd, his blade coming very close to Lloyd's face before Kratos blocked it. He shoved the blade away with enough force to make Emil stumble. "Damn it Aurion, don't get in my way!"

"Lloyd," stated Kratos simply. "give him the Cores."

"Wha-? But Dad, we're not sure what'll happen if he comes to full power!" Lloyd looked as if he was panicking.

"You forget," corrected Kratos as he deflected another of Emil's blows. "Aqua is still resisting, but the more power he has, the longer he can withhold the demons."

For a terrifying moment, Kratos thought that his son would not agree, but then Lloyd nodded, and, from a pocket on the inside of his dwarven coat, he pulled out the three Cores that he had stolen from Emil: Lumen, Ignis, and Tonitrus. As soon as Emil touched the dormant Cores he blacked out again, leaving the others to stand over his shaking body.

………

When Emil reawakened the group, deciding it was best not to linger in the Temple any longer, exited and, upon entering back onto the hillside, found Dirk battling an army of the undead. Or, rather, finishing off a few beasties that had decided that a dwarf-dinner sounded good.

"Dad, are you alright?"

"Fine, fine," said Dirk airily, "We dwarves are nothin' if not tough."

Kratos heard himself sigh in exasperation, and Mithos chuckled beside him, muttering in angelic "I see why you're not a big fan of his."

"_I second that!"_ Noishe chimed in with a bark.

Lloyd turned around with a glare and mouthed _no ganging up on Dad-Dirk._ "What happened?" Lloyd distracted the conversation.

"Well, ya' musta' felt the earthquake, after tha' a bunch'o monsters come up and start attakin' the Temple!"

"The earthquake must have been caused by the negative energy emanating from Niflheim through the opening in the door of the Ginnungagap!" said Tenebrae thoughtfully. Dirk jumped at the sight of the large, black Centurion.

"Tenebrae is right, the only way that we can stop this is for me to regain my power and seal the door." Emil's eyes glittered with red malice.

"So that's why you took the Cores from Lloyd then…" murmured Marta.

"What's wrong with me taking what's mine?!" snapped the Spirit back.

"Kinda melodramatic, don'cha think?" Zelos rolled his eyes. "Look, Kid, we're on your side, we don't want the door comin' down and the demons runnin' 'round here. They make terrible Hunnies."

"You would think about that at a time like this!" snapped Sheena. "But, for once-"

"-It's been more than once, Sheena-" Genis smirked.

"-I have to agree, we've gotten a taste of demons before and I'd prefer to not overrun the world with them."

"Yes, the demonic mana…burns. We must stop them," Presea said simply.

"And if Presea's in, I'm in too." Genis nodded resolutely.

"Then I suppose that drags me in as well," Raine sighed, "You'd need a more advanced healer if you're going up against the demons…"

"I concur, I am here for as long as you wish my presence," added Regal.

"Do you even have to ask?" Colette beamed. "Of course I'm in!"

Lloyd grinned. "I'm in the same boat as Colette. You've got our support Emil. And I'm sure Dad and Mithos agree too. _Right_ guys?" He glared at Mithos.

"I apologized! I repent, I'm on your side, blah, blah, blah. Get over yourself 'Tosky, you need me and you know it," Mithos rolled his eyes.

Ratatosk growled, "Like I'll trust _you_ after what happened last time!"

"Last time?" Both Marta and Dirk looked mystified.

"This lying little bastard let my Tree die!"

"You let my sister die!" Mithos stepped aggressively; his eyes glittered with violent malevolence. Kratos and Lloyd moved to stand between them, swords drawn as they backed each other. Somehow, amongst their resumed wanderings, he had become Mithos "babysitter" of sorts. Between he and Lloyd, Mithos was never unwatched. "Kratos, move!"

"Mithos, get a grip on yourself."

"Come on Emil, you need to relax too. Mithos is on your side."

"Move Aurion spawn!" growled Ratatosk. "We tried working together once and that bastard—No! I forgave Mithos for everything. He tried his best!" Emil's eyes were back to rich green.

………………

Emil had never been _inside_ his head before, but what he found he hardly expected: to be facing himself over an expanse of white. _He_ (Emil? Aster? Ratatosk?) glared aggressively at Emil and Emil, still trying to gain his balance, could only look back at an angry mirror.

"You're getting in my way! You continue to get in my way! For that, you will be punished! Richter opened the door! I have to stop him! The _only_ way is for me to regain my power! That twerp'll just get in my way again!" His hands were clenched into angry fists and his eyes glittered with malice.

"No, there's another way…" Emil stared at Ratatosk.

Sudden panic flashed over the spirit's—his—face. "You mean you're going to—!" Then his face darkened. "Don't you know what you're saying!?"

"We have to take responsibility for our actions. We are one person and I have to make our choices." Emil nodded. "Verius, I'm ready, lend me your power!"

"_Yes…I see…"_

With no more than those words, Ratatosk began to dissolve. He vanished into the light…

………………

Ratatosk was gone, if only for the moment, and, with circumstances as dire as they were, plans were being made for the group—Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, the monsters, Lloyd, Genis, Raine, Colette, Sheena, Zelos, Presea, and Regal—to hurry to the Ginnungagap to stop Richter before the door broke down any further then it already was. Kratos and Mithos, thanks to previous…circumstances and their lack of favor in Ratatosk's eyes, were not to accompany them. Emil and Marta were both rather sad that their friend, who had been there since the Journey's beginning, was not to be with them to see the final battle.

"Unfortunately it is necessary for us to remain outside the lower realms," Yuan explained vaguely. "Ratatosk had set up preparations for our next…visit. Said visit never came; however, I would suspect that the traps are still set."

They sat in the misty, green landscape around the Tree. It was late, and the plan was to set off early that next morning, but plans had to be made and all needed to rest. Emil was mentally exhausted after his battle with Ratatosk, as was Marta, and the rest of the group all seemed to be nearing their wit's end.

"Yeah, that and I'd rather not risk getting too close to him again," grumbled Mithos. "As you might have noticed, you're old self isn't too happy about my comeback."

"A lot of people aren't too happy about your comeback, Yggy," Zelos glared at Mithos. "Not sure why Bud felt the need to push it."

"I told you, he's the one that knows the most about Ratatosk _and_ the Eternal Sword. We need him."

What was not said, but all of Lloyd's old friends knew, was that guilt was a factor. Lloyd had never gotten over the death of the boy he considered a hero and a friend. He had always said that he wanted to save the world _his_ way, but Mithos was an icon, a goal to be strived for; Lloyd wanted his hero to live to that potential, to repent and work to right the world he had held for thousands of years as he was helping his father and uncle to do.

"Anyway, it's just going to be us that goes? Lloyd and the Regeneration Group and Marta, Tenebrae and I?"

"I plan on sending Sophie, Nero, Eon, and Tut to assist you as well. You will need all the help you can get if you are to defeat both Richter and whatever demons he had summoned."

"Thanks, they'll listen?"

"They will." It was a threat to which all paled, if monsters could, of course.

"_R-right LK, Master Emil—erm…Ratatosk, we'll listen!"_ Eon looked nervous, perhaps it was because the spell that had caused Kratos' eyes to glow had yet to be lifted.

"Right, then I guess we'll go to the-…Wait, do we even know where the Ginnungagap is?" This was a factor they had yet to consider, thankfully both Mithos and Tenebrae were aware of the little-known facts.

"The entrance lies upon an island. Not far from Altamira, actually," Tenebrae informed them.

"It's called the Otherworldly Gate, Tenebrae," corrected Mithos. "I used it as the anchor, kinda like the Tower of Salvation."

"If we're by Altamira, can we stop by and see Daddy?"

Lloyd nodded, "Sure, that wouldn't be a problem."

"Wait, there's something that I have to do before we go, I-I have to go back to Luin before…before we go, everyone can wait in Altamira for me.

………………

As much as Kratos did not approve of the idea of Emil running off on his own while the others waited in Altamira, he found himself rather impatient as he went with the Spirit back to his "hometown." The landscape flashed beneath them; land, water, mountains, lakes, streams, buildings, and then, Luin.

As it was very early morning the town was mostly asleep, shops only just preparing to open for the day and merely a few candles, burnt low from being the only souls awake that night, flickered in the warm dawn air. They landed the Rheiard outside of town so as not to cause a stir and began the short trek through the dewy grass toward the sleeping town, their footsteps the only sign that they were there.

"Thank you," Emil breathed, "I…don't think I could face my uncle alone. I'm sure he still hates me, and he…doesn't know anything about what's been going on I'm sure, so…"

"I understand," Kratos was in little mood to be friendly; his son was about to descend into the demon realm and face creatures that had taken Mithos, Kratos, Yuan, and Martel all the strength they had acquired over their long, hard years of war to defeat. And he could not be there. He was feeling short, to put it simply, and Emil's side trip seemed so…inconsequential.

They moved though the silent streets quickly toward their destination; Kratos wondered how Emil could assume that his "aunt and uncle" were awake at this hour, but he did not question, only followed. When Emil's fist knocked confidently on the door, Kratos wondered what had happened to the squeamish, terrified child that would never have _dreamed_ to be so bold as he was now. He felt a welling of pride; Emil was not his son, yet he looked upon him with a father's pride.

To his surprised, a frazzled-looking Flora quickly opened the door. She blinked in surprise upon seeing them, as if she questioned her own consciousness. "Emil…?"

"H-hey Aunt Flora, can Kratos and I come in…?" Emil's green eyes were affectionate as he looked upon the woman who had verbally harassed him for nearly four months.

Flora's eyes moved from her "nephew" to the broader and more intimidating Kratos. Her eyes met his and Kratos nodded once, attempting to keep his expression neutral, and failing slightly due to his sour mood. "I…yes."

Alba was sitting at the scrubbed wooden table in the far back of the room drinking something that smelled like coffee, he eyed them both with mild distaste, but said nothing. "Hi Uncle Alba…how've you been?" Emil looked boldly at his uncle. The elder man seemed surprised to be looked at with such confidence. He reappraised his ward, obviously noting the many physical changes he had gone through in the months that he had been journeying.

"Boy—Emil…what are you doing here?" Emil's green eyes widened as he heard his uncle utter his name, it must have been the first time he had heard it pressed between the elder man's large lips.

"I-I wanted to say goodbye." Emil's true purpose slipped out before he realized what he was saying. "I-I mean, I'm going away for awhile a-and I-I needed to thank you." This seemed to shock his aunt and uncle more than their appearance in the first place. "You and Aunt Flora were so good to me, even when I just showed up on your doorstep like an orphan… Thank you for everything." Emil's green eyes were honest and affectionate. "I…wish things hadn't been so strained between us, I wish we could have been more like family, but it is what it is, and I just wanted to let you know that I forgive you." With those final words, Emil turned to Kratos. "Come on, we need to go otherwise Yuan'll be after our necks…"

Kratos nodded, "Indeed."

However, as they turned to leave, Alba spoke, for the first time Kratos heard some…affection added to his words, there was love and warmth. "We still have time to be a family." Emil turned, Kratos saw that his green eyes glittered with tears, but a shocked smile spread across his features. "Wherever you're goin'…Well, you'll always have a home here if ya want it."

"U-uncle Alba…Aunt Flora…thank you, thank you both so much!"

Kratos left them to have a few minutes of privacy as he left to wander his way across the brightening town. By now more people had awoken and the market was trickling in the first few customers of the morning. Women digging their way through the day's freshest produce; it took very little imagination to picture one with long brown hair and a red dress.

"_Come on Kratos, don't these apples look great?"_

"_Beloved, they are _tomatoes,_ and they do not look particularly appetizing, no."_

All of the thoughts of family had forcibly put Kratos in a very nostalgic mood, not that he was about to care.

"_It's so warm, take off your shoes and feel the water Kratos!" Anna hung her own bare feet over the side of the fountain, her hair highlighted in gold by the rising sun._

"_I am fine, Beloved," Kratos murmured in reply, he stood to the side admiring his wife as she lounged in the warmth of the sun._

"_You're no fun!" With that complaint, she splashed him playfully, he could have sidestepped, but that would have denied him the pleasure of seeing her laugh, her brown eyes dance with mirth. She was beautiful, even if her humor came at his expense._

The fountain was now decorated with an image of Lloyd. It was not the same one that Anna had loved, but one that had been rebuilt in the likeness of the old, but for the added statue. What would Anna have said at seeing her son overlooking her hometown…?

"_He's so handsome… If anyone deserves a statue, it's my little boy…"_ He could picture the twist of her perfect lips as they lit her whole face. Yes, Anna would have been very proud of her son.

"Kratos!" Kratos was snapped from his thoughts as he turned to see Emil approaching. "Come on, we should get going!" He was right, of course, but Kratos felt a strong urge to linger. Still, he had been controlling his urges for long enough that it was not difficult to pull himself away.

"You are right."

Emil gaze moved to the stature of Lloyd, his eyes apprising the stonework. "He's a lot younger here then he is in real life…"

"He was seventeen when he saved Luin and destroyed the Desian Ranch."

"Yeah, I've heard about that, you were with him too, right?"

"Indeed."

Emil sighed, "Come on, you'll have to tell me the whole story…later."

_Later…_ Kratos heard something in Emil's tone, something that seemed almost _mourning._ He was _mourning_ the idea of later. As if there would _be_ no later.

"You are planning on sacrificing yourself to hold the door closed." It was blunt statement of fact, no emotion escaped Kratos' tone.

Emil froze in his tracks, his back stiff. "Yes," he said softly. "I can't seal Ratatosk away, it's not right, he's…well he's me, a person too, he doesn't deserve to be lost. It's the best way. The only way to pay for what I've done."

Kratos sighed. "Emil, I once thought like that as well, as if alienating myself with my sins were the only way to pay for them, Mithos thought death was his only option. Lloyd taught us differently, forcefully, yes, but we both live now, attempting to atone for our mistakes. Do not make the same mistakes we did, find another way. There is always another way."

"…Thank you, but I know what I'm doing."

………………

By the time they had reached Altamira, collected the others, and flown to the Otherworldly Gate, Mithos and Kratos planning to leave them there, the sun could be seen as a red line on the horizon as it set to light Luin more fully. Emil and Marta where whispering together, they had gotten little time alone and they were stealing a moment.

The island was small, only about one thousand feet across, and in the center, ringed as if they had been there for an eternity, were eight large rocks. They stood two of Kratos high and were decorated with swirled symbols too old to be read by anyone living today.

"I hate this place…" muttered Genis, and Raine nodded wordlessly.

"So, what? Is it just going to open or…?" Emil looked around.

"You will have to embrace your powers as Ratatosk; _command _the passage to the Ginnungagap to open," Tenebrae instructed vaguely.

"Uh…right, I guess that makes sense…" Emil closed his eyes, holding his hand out as if he was attempting to make a monster pact, and for a moment Kratos thought it would work, until he saw that Emil was holding his breath, his face paling and covered in sweat.

"Oh for the love of-" Mithos huffed, cutting off the deity that he was about offend, "That's _not_ how you control mana!" The former leader of Cruxis directed Emil's movements and, a few minutes later, the rocks lit as they did when there was a full moon, the inner circle the stones made filling with light.

"I-I guess this is…goodbye for now, we'll see you soon…I hope."

"Don't worry Emil, everything'll turn out just fine, we'll get out just fine and be back in a few days at most!" No one seemed to share Lloyd's enthusiasm but Colette; however, they all nodded solemnly.

"You will be waiting up here for us?" asked Raine, looking to Kratos and Mithos.

"That's the plan!" Mithos nodded. "Be careful." It seemed so out of place for those words to come from Mithos' mouth, but Kratos was gald to see hints of his old persona returning. Kratos himself simply nodded at the group, his eyes searching out both Lloyd and Emil.

"Do not die." It seemed so cryptic, yet it was the only advice he could find himself capable of giving.

Lloyd chuckled, "Yeah, Dad, whatever you say."

And they were gone.

"…" Mithos sighed. "So, I guess we're stuck on this stupid island for a few days…" Kratos nodded, "Whatdaya wanna do?"

………………

The Ginnungagap was more like a giant elevator then a door as far as Emil was concerned. Though Tenebrae said that there were far more passages and carefully set traps then they had so far encountered. Emil led the way, the others trailing behind, Lloyd fluttering throughout, one hand always hovering around the hilt of his sword.

While Emil and Kratos had taken the side-trip to Luin, Lloyd had returned to Dirk's home to pick up something. He had shown Emil what he had gotten, a beautifully crafted sword. It seemed to glow with an inner light all its own, and, even in the draft Ginnungagap air Emil could feel the heat emanating from the flickering, fire-like blade. Lloyd held it, and its partner, an icy blue blade, with the utmost care and wonder; they were his most prized possessions.

The elevator carried them deeper and deeper and Emil began to feel far more nervous than he had while basking in the rising sun on the surface. He felt as if he _should be remembering_ as he descended, but he felt nothing. No twinge of remembrance, no odd memories, nothing; just unfamiliar stony walls and thick, twisting tree roots.

There was a sudden loud crunch, and the feeling of falling, of weightlessness, that came with being on the elevator dissipated. They had come to a stop. There was now an opening, a passage that opened up into a dark corridor and obviously led deeper into the earth and closer to the only remaining link to the Demon Realm.

Suddenly, Emil felt a jolt of power, mana seemed to come through the very floor and Colette cried out. There were other stuttered cries and, as Emil and Marta spun to see what was happening, they found that several of their friends were missing and more were demonstrating their disappearing act. In a burst of light, Sheena vanished with a squeak, her brown eyes wide with fear. "Guys!" cried Lloyd, "Wait what? The Derris Emblem it's-!" But Lloyd too was gone.

Emil, Marta, and Tenebrae were alone. "W-what just happened?!"

"My goodness…" murmured a surprised Tenebrae. "I see that, amongst other things, the other somehow obtained the Derris-Emblem…"

"Tenebrae, stop talking about things we don't get and tell us what's going on!" cried Emil. "Where'd they go?"

Tenebrae sighed. "It seems that Lord Ratatosk used the Derris Emblem, an item that was obtained by Kratos, Mithos, and Yuan. It seems that it was that item that Lord Ratatosk used to trigger his trap. Those with any claim to it are moved to a prison deeper in. Only Lord Ratatosk can free them…"

"Well, if that be the case…The we have to find them!"

"Yeah, they've saved us so many times; we owe them this at least." Emil nodded his agreement to Marta's statement.

"Do we know where they'd be?"

"Deeper in, no doubt. We shall have to run into them eventually…"

"Then let's go!"

………………

Mithos was babbling about nothing in particular when Kratos stiffened. The younger man stopped and looked up at his old friend. "What is it Kratos?"

"…Lloyd is in danger."

"How the hell would you know that!?" cried Mithos. "He's in the _Underworld!_ Now you've got some sort of parental sixth sense thing going?

Kratos glared. "Come, Mithos, we're going after them."

"What?! But what about the traps? Remember, Ratatosk hates our traitorous, pact-breaking guts? Any of this ringing a bell?"

Kratos, however, was not listening to his blond cohort, and shoving him toward the gate.

* * *

**Well, we'll leave it at that. Next week will be my second-to-last update.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	58. In Which Two Lives End

**Chapter 58 In Which Two Lives End.**

**Insanity, murder, revenge, hatred, old friend, new friends, anger, love, and death all create the darkest chapter in An Unreal Reality. **

**Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia or the sequel.**

* * *

They felt alone yet watched; he hurried Marta along, dodging the skeletons of many a fallen monster, toward the far side of the eerie chamber. It seemed to glow with its own sickly green-blue light: the light seemingly emanating from the bleached bones themselves. Their breath fogged around them as they ran, their feet clattering echoingly as they wandered the labyrinth the bones created.

Marta slipped, her feet sending tiny pebbles clattering across the rocky ground. Was it Emil's imagination or did he hear footsteps? A soft giggle that echoed around the room and sent the small hairs on his arms standing on end?

Left, right, right, left again; Emil pulled Marta down the paths, choosing at random and sometimes having to fully retrace his steps as he hit dead ends. He cursed himself for sending Tenebrae ahead to the chambers where Richter was to check on him; the Centurion could have easily led them out of this maze, but now it was only him. He would have sent out the monsters, but they were in the Centurion's Shadow with Tenebrae, as Emil wanted them to preserve their strength.

He had no idea where they were, they could have been back where they had started or just around the corner from the exit or in the middle of the room completely lost.

Suddenly, he heard it. It was distinct, a sound he knew better than his own voice. He froze, Marta's warm form bumping into his back with a little gasp, which normally he would have found cute. However, all of his senses were on high alert as he spun around. It sounded again, this time much closer, coming from the direction he was facing. He waited, staring, knowing that he had to face whatever it was that was coming after them.

From next to the bleached bone, the creamy color of Alice's clothing looked almost dirty and the pink more like old bloodstains then decoration. Her face was smeared with dirt, but her eyes glittered venomously. Next to her, Decus towered over all three of them; his stance, for once, was not dramatically over-the-top, but dangerous and aggressive. His appearance was as dirty as Alice's was, as if the two had done little to care for themselves since they had been seen running about the Lezareno building. His face was pulled into a dangerous smirk and his blade was free of its iron maiden; he balanced it on his shoulder blade.

"Welcome to the Monster Graveyard, Kiddies. I see you've finally ditched your friends, even infants have to grow up eventually." Her smile was wide and dangerous. "It's just you and us now, Mart-mart."

"Alice…" Marta's eyes hardened and her small hands clenched into fists, "you don't have to do this you know. You're being _controlled_, you're not thinking straight! Don't do this. Come back to yourself!"

"Stupid Mart-mart, you don't get it yet, do you? _I'm_ not being controlled; Dumbo-Decus and Commander Brute maybe, but I never put a finger on the Cores."

"W-what?! Then why would you do something like this?" When Emil glanced over at Marta he saw tears in her eyes.

"Simple, I _hate_ you. You're disgustingly weak and powerless, but you always have to get in the way! _Stop it Daddy! Help me Ratatosk!"_ Alice adopted a higher pitch to her voice and clasped her hands, her face contorted in a mocking sadness. "You're so pathetic it makes me sick!"

"Alice…that's not true, I only wanted to help, you can't save the world like-"

"Since when did I say I wanted to help _anyone?_ Richter said that he could get me power by way of demons, I've had a little practice in that area, so I agreed. This was never about Sylvarant, it was never even about revenge, it was about me gaining the power I want. That's all."

"Alice, please, repent, there's still time-"

"_Repent?_ I hate hypocrites like you," Alice's voice was low, and Emil knew this was the most open and honest thing he had ever heard her say. "I simply want to use this opportunity to prove to you that you can do _nothing._ You want to save the world? You have to gain the power to do so, the power to take it under your control. That's something that the Desians were able to do, it's something that _I_ will do."

"You want to mimic the Desians?!" snapped Emil, "You think the world was better off under the constant fear of having them around murdering people?!"

"I don't want to play around with Ranches like the _Desians_ did, I just want power, something I didn't have nor did I have a chance to gain. This world will bow to me!"

"And I will stand by her no matter what!"

"Decus, you're willing to kill countless people just for Alice, you'd do anything so long as she was happy?!" Emil glared, but his eyes stayed green. This only served to unnerve, however: Emil's anger was far more pure than that of Ratatosk, the righteous fury. "You destroyed Palmacosta, destroyed Lloyd's reputation, just because you wanted to please Alice?"

"Put simply, yes." The idea seemed to almost amuse him. "You two are so dense. Why should I care what happens? Alice would be a far better ruler anyway. I would sell my soul for her and never look back, never even think about what I did as long as she was happy."

"Well, I think you passed _selling your soul_ a long time ago," snapped Emil.

Decus just snorted contemptuously.

"I will gain my power, unending, unyielding, unbeatable power. That's the only way to survive and flourish in this world. If Richter thinks to use demons, then I'll take them too. The World _will_ answer to me and if that means getting rid of the both of you, then it'll be my pleasure!"

As if on some silent cue, Decus attacked. He moved so fast Emil could hardly parry the blows. He swung to the left, to the right, back and forth. His blade descended and it was all Emil could to stop him taking of his arm. His grin was terrifying and wide, as if this was the most amusing thing in the world to him. His eyes glittered with menace and Emil could feel his arms numb with the effort.

In the background he could hear Marta's grunts of pain as she attempted to fight off Alice with only her spinner. For the first time, Emil wished she had a stronger weapon, so at least something that she could have better used to guard herself. He could not reach her, there was almost nothing he could do but take down Decus as quickly as he could.

Decus, however, was not about to make that any easier. He broke away from their clash to jump at him from a different angle, bringing his blade down from the top to slice at Emil's head. With all his might Emil brought his blade up to block; a metallic ring echoed around the glowing graveyard and Emil felt the vibrations run painfully down his arms. Pain spiked in his muscles, but he held on just long enough to roll himself away and half-collapse a few feet away to prepare for Decus' next swing.

Blocking would not work. There was too much weight to Decus' blade, it would continue to numb his arms until he could no long lift his own blade and he could be finished. He had come too far to let himself die like this.

_Use the weight against him,_ whispered a voice in the back of Emil's thoughts, a voice that sounded eerily like Kratos in lecture mode, _his is not much stronger than you, it is all he can do to control the blade. Throw off his balance and you have the battle._

"You're no Knight in Shining Armor, kid; you're just a blond brat with a stick!" Decus' scathing words snapped Emil from his thoughts and he glared at the taller, older man. "You can't beat us together. You think you know what you're doing? Good luck."

"You're done hurting people, Decus. You destroyed Palmacosta _and_ Flanoir and killed countless people because of it. You put the entire world in jeopardy and that has to stop! _I'll_ stop you!"

Decus' blade met with his own again and Emil grunted with pain as he attempted to throw his sword to the side. As he watched, Decus stumbled, but the sword was only shoved so far and he was able to quickly regain his balance. Emil would need more strength if he wanted to get him out of the way long enough to jump to Marta's rescue. In the few seconds that it took Decus to regain his balance, Emil raced off in a roundabout evasion to Marta side.

The girl was covered in tiny, bleeding scratches and Alice's rapier was bathed in a deep red, almost black looking in the weak light. Marta seemed to be failing, her eyes full of tears as she stumbled back, away from Alice. "Stupid Mart-mart, can't you take a little pain?" Alice giggled, her golden eyes filled with hatred and loathing. "Stop moving and it'll end sooner!"

"Back off Alice!" Emil shoved Marta out of the way, his blade taking the feather light blows from Alice's rapier.

"You get the hell away from her!" snapped Decus and he raced toward the two, shoving Emil down, his blade all but forgotten in the rush as he charged Emil. They fell in a heap several feet from Alice, who did not even bother to look at them, but simply returned to attacking Marta, the girl scrambling back with terror-filled eyes.

Emil had no time for Decus; Alice was advancing swiftly on Marta, and she was near helpless. His foot collided with the elder man's stomach and Decus grunted in pain but still held on. Emil's hand met his jaw and Emil heard a terrible crack and Decus fell away with a howl of pain, his hand going to his bleeding, twisted jaw.

The Knight turned away from Decus and raced toward Marta and Alice. "Come on Mart-mart!" shrieked Alice, "Aren't you having fun!?" Her eyes were wide and mad.

"Alice, Alice please stop! You're killing her!"

"That's the _idea_ Tosky!" Bruises, welts, and oozing cuts covered Marta's body. At this rate she would be too weak to heal herself and bleed to death from a thousand little cuts before Alice finished with her.

"I said _stop _it!" cried Emil, and he moved to slam his sword into the girl's back, but his sword met something different. Something very different. Decus stood blocking her, his back now supporting a gash that was surely fatal.

"D-Decus?" Alice's eyes were wide. "Why did you…?"

"Alice…I'm sorry…I-I failed…" He coughed; the sound was hacked and painful, cut off prematurely: Decus was running out of air. "I guess I really wasn't meant for you but I really do love you…" He fell back, his body falling brokenly on the stone ground. Laying like that he almost looked as if he could be sleeping; his eyes were closed and his limbs resting at awkward but natural angles.

"Decus…Decus! Oh, Decus, you didn't fail I…Oh I love you too…" Alice dropped to her knees, sobs shook her small body and Emil saw tiny silver tears fall from her eyes. "You…" she whispered darkly, "you _killed _him. You _killed_ Decus! I'll kill _you!"_

Emil could only watch in shock as Alice, her body still shaking with sobs, moved faster than he could have imagined and grabbed up Decus' huge sword in both of her pale hands. She raised it above her head, her face contorted with pain and rage. "You're dead!"

Alice gasped, her crazed golden eyes widened and, as Emil watched in horror, a blood-soaked sword tip blossomed through her chest. Decus' blade slipped through her fingers to the side and the girl gasped, her eyes, now glittering with hatred turned to face Kratos. His face was full of dark, cold fury, but his eyes were far more dangerous: blank and empty; the eyes of a killer.

"You…bastard. You always get in my way-!" Then she choked, seemed to remember the fallen form of Decus not a foot behind her. She turned away from her enemies, from her revenge and stared at the crumpled form of her unrequited lover. "Decus…I-I guess I'll be with you soon…" Her voice was soft and it obviously hurt her to speak. She collapsed to her knees in front of him and, crawling forward slightly, rested her head against his chest. She sighed softly, "I do love you, I do, I do…"

Her hand rested in his, and, using all her energy, forced herself up to gently place a soft kiss on his pale lips. "I do…" Her head fell back, resting again against his chest and her eyes dulled, a small smile on her bloodless lips. Alice was dead.

Marta, still barely able to walk from Alice's attacks, rose and moved toward Alice and Decus. She knelt down by the girl and stared into her glassy eyes. "Why Alice…why? Couldn't you have…have just given in? You could still be alive then! You and Decus could have been together if you'd only given up…"

"Sometimes…" whispered a soft voice, "dreams are worth dying for. There's no way that you can live without something you can never have, and dying doesn't seem so bad…" Marta's tear-filled eyes met Mithos' own crystal blue and the half-elf moved forward to take her hand and pull her to her feet.

"I-I just wish we could have helped them… I-I can never understand what she was thinking…how could someone want power more than anything else and use everyone around her to get it?"

"I think I understand where she was coming from…" Mithos chuckled darkly, "But I don't think you need to dwell on her reasons, the best way is to remember her and forgive her and maybe she'll understand, wherever she is, she'll forgive you and all the people that hurt her and you can start over."

"But…can I forgive her?" Marta looked down at the glassy-eyed pair, her eyes held a haunted look to them. "Can I forgive someone who would step on even the man who she loved to get what she wanted?"

"If you can't, how can you ask her to repent?" Marta jolted at Mithos words and looked back at him. "She called you a hypocrite; that's what she meant. You can't expect her to try to change her ways if you do not want to change yours. Repenting only works when both the one who sinned and the ones they sinned against forgive."

Marta nodded and said softly, "I think I understand…I understand what you mean."

Emil hated himself for doing so, but he broke the quiet, pondering silence to ask, "How did you two get down here? I thought that Ratatosk—that I'd set some sort of trap for you…"

"The Derris Emblem," explained Kratos, "the trap was set to find its mana and imprison whoever possessed it. The Derris Emblem was…given to Lloyd and the others during the Journey of Regeneration. I fear that they fell prey to a trap meant for us…?" Kratos turned the statement into a question and looked at Emil, his eyes still blank and heartlessly cold.

"Yes, we were told they were somewhere deeper in and that I could supposedly save them… We were looking for them when Alice and Decus…" Emil trailed off, unable to repeat what had just happened.

"Then it would be prudent to search for them instead of remaining here."

"You want to just leave them?!" snapped Marta. "How could you be so heartless?!"

"It is not heartlessness but practicality that made the decision. We do not know what is down here, nor the dangers that the others face. We must focus."

"…" Marta could only glare mutely for a moment before conceding to Kratos' cold logic. The man moved to heal the worst of her wounds and they began again on their way.

The four were silent as they made their way through the silent, winding graveyard. Emil silently hoped Tenebrae would return with good news soon; however, they had wandered their way out of the maze before the Centurion returned. "I have found them—oh, how in the worlds did the two of you get down here?"

"The Derris Emblem; that is what the trap was set to react to. Lloyd and the others possess it now. I realized that and we raced down here to help," Kratos said bluntly.

"I see, well, I have good news on that case, they are through a few more chambers and as safe as can be." The way Tenebrae said it only made Kratos worry more.

"Lead the way Tenebrae." Emil motioned for the Centurion to take the lead and they continued on.

………………

"Dad?!"

Kratos felt relief swell in his stomach as they turned another corner to find Lloyd waiting for them. He seemed unhurt and as if he had been waiting for them for some time. "What are you and Mithos doing down here?"

"As it would appear it was the Derris Emblem that the trap was set to react to. You have the Derris Emblem and, therefore, the trap took you."

"Damn…" muttered Lloyd, "first this thing helps us get out of a trap, then it lands us in one!"

"Wow, ironic, no?" Mithos rolled his eyes. "Where are Genis and the others?"

"This way, they're…well, let's just say I'm sure they're all hoping you've got a genius way out of this."

As soon as they saw the others, Kratos could hardly blame his son's assessment. They were all frozen in varying poses around an ethereal platform. Solid stone. Emil and Marta both flinched in sympathy, but Mithos turned to eye Lloyd. "Why exactly did _you_ not get the stone treatment?"

"Probably 'cause I've got Martel's protection as the Namer of the Tree. She is Ratatosk's opposite and their powers cancel out so I don't get hurt…"

"Right…"

"So, Tenebrae, how exactly do we save them…?" Emil looked up at Tenebrae questioningly.

"As you are Ratatosk you should be able to simply touch them to release them," explained the Centurion.

"Okay, then let's go."

Several minutes later, the others were again freed and sights were again set on Richter. The Ginnungagap was not far from their present location and Emil was ready. It was time to face his friend and stop him from making a mistake. It was time to save the world, even if it meant condemning himself.

* * *

**Um…anyone else crying?**

**Next week is the conclusion.**

**R&R**

**~Yoshi**


	59. In Which the End Comes all too Soon

**This is…the end…**

**Well, this is it for chapter…epilogue after, but that hardly counts…**

**I suppose this is the moment to say thank you to **_**everyone**_** who helped this to be a success. I'd like to begin with my Beta duo, L and Rougie, guys, you're the best. 'Cept when you yell at me to write Journal... And, of course, danke sehr to every reviewer and reader that took a few minutes to peruse this story and actually found it to their amusement. I hope there will be much more to come and I look forward to seeing familiar names attached to reviews. For all the advice, assistance, and praise and frustrations alike, thank you.**

**Chapter 59: within, you shall find… Centurions, bipolar-ness, schizophrenics, semi-epic battles, a giant door, suggestions, and a sad farewell. A note: I've changed up a few things during this scene for my purposes and because I thought Ratatosk's master "plan" was completely idiotic. Just a few fixes as usual.**

**Disclaimer: Even after sixty chapters, I fear I cannot Tales of Symphonia as my own.**

* * *

It was not a long trip from Ratatosk's "prison" to the main entrance into the actual Ginnungagap. The platforms they walked on were made of pure mana, often feeling as if they should be unable to hold the large group up. Kratos was constantly on edge, they could be attacked by Richter at any point, though instinct told him that the man would be waiting for them at the door.

The amount of demonic mana that came from ahead was practically a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow; as if they were following a trail of blazing light that was not actually there. He could tell that Mithos, Lloyd, and any others that could feel mana were becoming nervous, their bodies responding naturally to the threat ahead.

No one spoke for no one seemed to know what to say. They had no idea of what to come and to speak seemed to curse their objective. Their footsteps seemed to echo too loudly on the non-existent floor; Richter would know they were they long before they reached the door.

And he did, he had even sent out Aqua to greet them.

"Aqua…" Tenebrae sounded reproachful.

"Master Richter has business within the Ginnungagap; I will not let you interrupt!" Defiance flashed in the Centurion's deep blue eyes. Her webbed, claw-like hands clenching into fists as she glared.

"Aqua, you're a traitor…how could you have done something like this?!" growled Tenebrae.

"Simple, when I was found by Aster and Richter they told me that something was wrong with the mana, that the only way to save the world was for me to take them to Ratatosk so that they could explain what was happening! But Lord Ratatosk would not listen to them; he killed Aster and set we Centurions to destroy mankind! Master Richter was badly wounded and he spent several years looking for a way to bring Aster back to life!"

"He's going to use the demons' power to bring him back to life…" murmured Mithos. "I actually debated that for awhile, but the demons weren't the biggest fans of us after we stopped the war…Richter's been causing havoc; chaos that hasn't been seen in such high doses since the war ended, the demons must love that, it's what they thrive off of."

Kratos grunted wordlessly in agreement with Mithos. Richter's actions were eerily similar to their own, though his methods were not nearly so…complex. In this society, it would only take a few words to spark rebellion and war. If this was what the demons craved, then they would give him all the power he wanted, especially if he planned to release them again into this world.

"Master Richter's plan is almost complete, and I will not let you destroy it now!" Aqua transformed; her blue body turning deep green, her arms lengthening and her head splitting into two and long snouts growing. Sharp, snapping teeth and viciously glaring eyes caused the group to falter.

"Let's take this big lizard down…" muttered Zelos.

"Nah, we don't have time for that," snapped Sheena, "Lloyd, you take Emil, Kratos, Mithos, Marta, Zelos, and Raine around while we cause a distraction. We'll take down Aqua and bring the Core in to seal the door in a few, in the meantime you stall Richter, kay?"

Though it was obviously no one's favorite plan, more dark mana rushed from the depths of the passage and Lloyd nodded. "Right, you guys be careful, let's go."

The distraction was simple, Genis cast a huge lightning spell, successfully distracting Aqua for the moment, and, while the creature's back was turned, Lloyd and the others whisked their way silently behind. They raced down the next corridors, hoping that Richter would not unleash the demons before they could arrive and convince him out of it. The door that appeared ahead of them was wide open, mangled by a sword: forced open. They had not time to take in the unearthly architecture or the way the floor seemed just to end, the mana ending and dropping off into nothing, because Richter was waiting.

"Richter…" Emil's voice was stronger than Kratos had ever heard it. "Don't do this."

"Emil…" Richter seemed…gone, the demons already somewhat taking his mind. "No, Ratatosk, you're too late, I've already summoned more demons, and there are still more to come." His voice was low, his words filled with passion. "You will not stop me."

"Aqua told us why you're doing this, she told us everything. Richter, I'm _sorry_ for what I did, I know that isn't enough, but to give the world to the demons just to bring him back…do you really think this is what Aster would want-!?"

"How _dare_ you speak like you knew Aster! How _dare_ you speak as if you know why I'm doing this! You don't understand what he meant to me!" It was as if a fire had been lit under him, flames lapped at his clothes and skin, catching his hair, but not burning. He glared around at those present before erupting into burning flames. Dark mana swirled around him and when Richter opened his eyes they blazed with an eerie black fire. "I will _destroy_ you, Ratatosk!"

And Richter attacked.

As it was the way with Richter, his fist attack was at Emil; more dark flames leapt forth from the ground at his feet and he was forced to throw himself to the side so as not to severely burn his legs. Lloyd, Kratos, and Zelos threw themselves at Richter, all slashing and hacking at the flaming male, but he seemed to deflect every blow. Raine, Mithos, and Marta drew back, mana practically humming around them as they healed every injury that Richter caused. Mithos was building up power, some sort of light spell, which he raced forward to slam it into Richter's face.

Emil had wanted to run forward as well, but Kratos had pushed him back with a muttered, "Don't." Emil had listened to him, against his better judgment, but he had. As he watched Zelos go spinning back from the fray, his hair and clothing burning with that dark fire, Emil knew that he _had_ to enter the fight. He spent a moment watching Raine send healing mana to the injured Zelos before running up to take his spot with Lloyd and Kratos.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" hissed Kratos.

Immediately, Richter focused all of his efforts on Emil, sword and sickle slashing and jabbing at inhuman speeds as Emil dodged and blocked. He stumbled and felt Richter's blade pierce his stomach. Emil cried out, but the pain only lasted a moment as the next second he felt Marta's healing mana surround him. There was no time for thanks as Richter deflected Lloyd's swords and again ran at Emil. The Spirit kicked back and slammed his foot into Richter's stomach and the man grunted with pain as more fire erupted around him.

Lloyd and his father swore and fell back slapping their clothing to put out their own fires. Richter charged again, but this time, it was Mithos that put himself between them; he shoved his hand against Richter's shoulder and the man gasped as light washed over the flames and sent him spiraling away, obviously injured. Lloyd and Kratos raced back in, aiming to kill, but Richter was back on his feet in an instant, oblivious to any injury he sustained.

"Damn…" growled Kratos as he fell back, "Mithos, Lloyd, Zelos, more angelic mana!"

Though Emil only half understood what they were saying, he joined Raine and Marta in backing themselves away from the sudden gathering mana.

"Judgment!" roared both Zelos and Lloyd while Kratos shouted something that sounded like "Shining Bind!" Richter gasped with pain and stumbled back, falling to his knees, unable to stand. But it was Mithos that ran in for the final blow. "Disappear!" Emil heard him whisper and a beam of pure mana shot forth and seemed to _eat_ the flames that surrounded him.

Richter screamed. His agonized cry echoed through the high ceilinged chamber as he hit one of the columns that decorated the Ginnungagap. He looked nearly dead, but Emil, though he would have liked to run to his friend and help him, had other things to worry about. He stepped forward and held up his right hand, the reaction was instantaneous: the symbols embedded around the door began to glow. There was a clicking, as if some sort of internal mechanism was adjusting, and the door slammed shut.

There was naught but a moment of peace before the screaming began. It was the sound of a thousand tortured souls; Emil hated it, but it was not until the voices began to echo that the pain truly began. He had never truly met the mother that he had "lost" in Palmacosta; however, he had heard enough of her voice to recognize her screams.

"_Emil! Emil my baby let me out! Please, open the door!"_

From the faces of the others, Emil could tell that they heard it too, or, perhaps they heard something else. Lloyd's eyes were wide and he took a half-step toward the door; Raine and Zelos, though he was hurt, were both staring in shock. Richter made a choked sob and attempted to rise to his feet, but his legs would not hold him and he collapsed in a heap on the floor, Marta was doing much the same. Both Kratos and Mithos looked unnerved, but their eyes also held a dark understanding.

"Do not answer the calls, it is only the demons…they want you to reopen the door, they are playing with your thoughts," whispered Kratos softly. "Beware."

"Is it just me," grumbled Mithos, "or does this seem get harder every time we do something like this? SHUT THE HELL UP!" he screeched at the door. For a moment, the voices seemed to grow fainter, then, with an almighty roar, the door seemed to bend with the power of the demons as they attempted to shove their way through.

Emil, his hand still poised over his head, gasped and stumbled back, tripping and falling. "T-the door, what's going on?!" he cried.

"The demons are using all their power to break through the door. Someone else using it weakened the barrier, they are trying to force their way through." Suddenly, Tenebrae was by his side, glaring down at Richter. "You have very nearly destroyed this world with your selfish acts! The others should be along in a moment with Aqua's Core; that should help you seal the door…"

"And use this as well…" murmured Richter from next to him, "I took it from the Village of the Elves, it supposedly turns the mana in your body to fire, the demons could not pass you if you possessed it."

"That's the sacred stone!" cried Mithos. "How the hell did you get it?! The _Elves_, really?!"

"That's where I took it after I didn't need it any more…" For some reason Lloyd looked sheepish. "What else was I supposed to do…?"

Mithos just shook his head in despair. "Something other than that…"

"That, combined with the effects of the Chosen's Cruxis Crystal, if the rumors were true, could be used to block the door even without Ratatosk."

"…The Crystal…" stated Kratos. "You planned on using it to stop your aging and hold the door all along."

"That is…correct. Aster could come back, Ratatosk would be no more, and the world would still be safe…"

"So _that's _what you had going…" Lloyd looked mildly relieved. "I was worried you were going to pull something completely stupid and world-sacrificing like Mithos…"

As much as Emil would have liked to ask, he did not have time, the door needed to be sealed. He lifted the Stone into the air and flames burst forth, they wrapped their way around the door and the screaming stopped, the pounding ceased as did the screams. They were safe…for the moment.

As if on cue, Sheena and the others that had remained behind to face Aqua ran into the room; the little blue Core still dormant in Sheena's hands. "Here!" she cried. They all stumbled to a stop, staring in shock upon the scene that was unfolding in front of them.

"W-we brought the Core…"She looked around with a mixed curiosity and confusion.

Marta, who was closest, went to fetch the Core from her and ran it up to Emil. She stopped, however, when she heard the strange sound that echoed from his throat.

"Hehehe…" The sound was eerie and dark, like the demons had sounded, yet there was something far more horrible and malicious about this than anything that they could have made. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Emil cackled louder, loud enough that the whole room echoed with his deranged laugher.

"Emil…? E-Emil what's wrong…?" Marta's voice shook, but she did not move away. Suddenly Emil rounded on her, his hand latching onto her neck in a vice-like grip. "E-mil…?" she choked out the question.

"Now _nothing_ can stand in my way!" he cackled, his voice laced with insanity. "Once I bind Aqua to my will _nothing_ will stop me! Now…hand over Aqua's Core!"

"Emil…please, I…can't…breath…" With each word, her voice grew fainter. Her face turned from pale to nearly blue in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, Emil was shoved off his feet by Richter. The man had somehow gathered the strength to charge at him, knocking him off his feet and causing him to release Marta. Lloyd was there to catch her as she stumbled and both looked at Emil who was now glaring at Richter. "Damn you, I should have killed you when I had the chance!"

Richter gasped, speechless; Marta, however, cried, "Emil, Emil why are you doing this!?"

Emil rounded on her, "I am _not_ your stupid little wimp!" snapped Emil, green eyes flashing with some dark mirth, "I am _Ratatosk!"_ With those words he was upon them, his sword flying as Lloyd struggled to block every blow, guarding himself and Marta. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Emil slashed and drove Lloyd backward, causing the elder swordsman to stumble, but he regained his quickly. "Die! Die! Die!" Emil had truly lost his very sanity.

Lloyd jumped back again, but it was only to regain advantage and he leapt at Emil, the Spirit stumbled back, swearing. Abruptly, he fell back of his own accord and his own hand clamped onto his neck. "N-no!" Emil's soft voice was back and he choked through his own hold. "Marta! Lloyd! I'm sorry…I-I can't hold on…I-I-I'm not strong enough, he's not gone! I can't stop him—!"

"Who the hell said you could come out!" the gruff voice of Ratatosk broke though.

"Stop me!" Emil, "Please, you have to stop me!"

Ratatosk, "NO! You cannot defeat me!"

Emil, "Turn me into a core! Use me to seal the door, it's the only way!"

And Emil lost control.

"Why won't you _stop_ interfering?!" he hissed and he turned his sights on Lloyd and Marta. "There, now that pathetic bastard isn't coming back! Now, be a good little girl and give me Aqua…" His voice turned mocking. "Come on Marta, you know you can't defeat me, just give up."

Several tense moments passed, the group members looked between each other, even Mithos looked somewhat unnerved, only Kratos stared back at Emil. His own red eyes hinting at some quiet emotion: sadness. Emil turned away, unable to look at him, disgust flashing through his as they moved back to Marta.

"Well…?"

"I-I…No." Marta's head snapped up, her blue eyes meeting his as the Spirit took a step back, surprise marrying the anger on his face.

"_What?"_

"I will not let you take Emil; I'll fight you for him." He had never heard such anger or force in Marta's voice.

For a moment, Emil could only stare, then, he brought his head back, his body racked with morbidly amused laughter. "Oh _really?_ I thought you didn't want me to disappear either! So much for _friends!"_ He attacked. Marta scrambled to block his unexpected blow, she stumbled, and his blade would have severed hand from arm had Lloyd not pulled her out of Emil's way. Abruptly, Kratos was looming over him, his eyes glittering with anger, his sword locked with Emil's own. "You again…"

"_Enough,_ Ratatosk."

Emil scoffed, "Enough? I've only just begun!" Emil twisted, his blade coming free of Kratos as he moved to attack his back flank, Kratos, however, was prepared for this move and he neatly dodged. Kratos parried his next ruthless slash gracefully, causing Emil to stumble slightly but regain his balance quickly. It was Kratos' turn to move the offensive, and he moved to cut down Emil's legs; he, however, attacked back, both blocking and dismantling Kratos' attack, causing him to stop mid-move and block.

Kratos broke away quickly and spun in the same movement to slash at Emil from the side. This move hit, and Emil stumbled back. His staggered steps ended quickly when Kratos knocked his legs from underneath him and raised his sword for the final blow.

"Wait, stop!" In all of a second, Marta stood in front of him, her arms outstretched as if to protect him. "Kratos, don't you see? That's not Ratatosk, that's Emil!" Kratos lowered his sword as Marta turned to face Emil; her eyes glittered with tears as she stared into Emil's own _green_ eyes. "You're not Ratatosk, you're Emil…"

"W-what? No! I am Ratatosk!"

"Here," Marta held out Aqua's Core wordlessly, "Emil, take the Core…"

"Emil…why?" Lloyd blinked, not understanding the Spirit's motives.

"He planned on atoning for the things that Ratatosk did by using himself to seal the door," Kratos stated detachedly.

Everyone stared at Emil, some with confused eyes, others with angry glares, and Marta with tears slipping down her cheeks. "Oh Emil, that's _insane!"_

"But it's true…I sealed him away, that's like _killing_ him. You don't understand, by sealing him away he _disappears._ Maybe it's best if neither of us is around…"

"Then don't seal him away, talk to him, come to an understanding. Compromise is good!" Lloyd sighed. "You can't just go sacrificing yourself, _right_ Colette?"

"R-right! Oh Emil, you have to try everything before you think of giving up your life!"

"Trust us, we went through a lot so we didn't have to sacrifice anyone, and yet it still wound up that a few people," Lloyd glanced at Mithos, "didn't make it all the way out. But if there's a way, even a tiny way, you have to try!"

"I…" Emil looked around at the hopeful faces of the group, Mithos, Marta, and Richter. "…Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality…" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then, his eyes opened. "I'll do it."

………………

Around him, the others seemed to vanish, the world spun, and they turned into a formless blur, nothing seemed stationary, and, as the colors mixed, everything seemed to dissolve into white. He shut his eyes, the spinning colors making his eyes tired and mixing and twisting his thoughts. When he reopened them, he faced…himself.

"So…I guess you've decided that sealing me away _wasn't_ such a great idea?" he rose a blond eyebrow skeptically. Ratatosk seemed far calmer than the last time Emil had seen him. "Dare I ask your moronic plan this time?"

"…If you're me, than shouldn't you already know?"

"Something about you being the_ good_ inside me, blah, blah, blah we combine personalities and everyone goes home happy." His voice was not so much laced as _dripping _sarcasm. "What if I'm not thrilled with the idea of having to deal with you in the back of my head for eternity?"

"Then I'll just have to prove that I'm not useless."

The other eyebrow shot up and Ratatosk looked over Emil's small form coldly. "How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"By defeating you!"

Both parties charged.

………………

Kratos watched Emil quietly. He had only just closed his eyes, his body relaxing quietly, when, quite suddenly, he tensed and grimaced. Something was happening, but he was not sure what. He gasped and swayed but managed to stay on his feet. Marta was nearest to him and she twitched often to reach for him, but every time Kratos stopped her. She glanced up at him, but he mutely shook his head: this was a battle that Emil had to fight on his own.

Again, Emil tensed, this time, however, his eyes flashed open, they glittered a bright green. "I trust you, Ratatosk," he whispered almost inaudibly, "because you are me." He blinked, and when his eyes flashed open, they were bloody red. "And apparently I have to put up with you whether I like it or not." He sighed and surveyed the room; the group was on edge as they stared back.

"Emil…?" whispered Marta, "No…Ratatosk…"

His eyes landed on her, "Oh, come on, don't look so sad." Eyes rolled, "I'm _sorry_ about all that "annihilating the world" shit, it's just a phase. I'll just annihilate Mithos and everything'll be good." The joke was plain in his voice, but even Mithos seemed to take a step back. Ratatosk turned to look at his door with a sigh, "Man," he turned to Richter, "what the hell made you feel the need to screw up my door so much?!"

It was Richter's turn to shy away from the red glare. "I…suppose that is my fault, yes…" It must have been strange to look into the familiar, yet completely foreign, face of his best friend.

"Yeah, that might be an understatement. The point is, I'm gonna have to find a new way to seal my door, any suggestions?" He looked around, hardly expecting to see Mithos smirk.

"As a matter of fact, I _do_ have a suggestion."

Ratatosk raised an eyebrow, eyeing the former Cruxis Leader suspiciously. "Kid, that's what you said last time, and we all know how _that_ turned out." When Marta and Richter's blank looks corrected his words, Ratatosk rephrased. "Okay, okay, _most_ of us know how that turned out."

"Well, did you have anything else in mind…?" Mithos was smirking.

"Oh, just say it, brat!"

"Well…" It was obvious that Mithos was enjoying himself. "Assuming that the door needs more mana to fortify it as mana from the tree does not flow directly into the door, so the answer is simple; borrow mana from a different source until enough can be built up. The Tree doesn't produce enough to withhold the demons and power the world, so you have to find a different source…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! What's this grand "other source" you're blathering on about?!"

"The Eternal Sword."

"…Genius, that feeds off the mana from the Tree as well."

"Yes, but it can refocus the mana from around us and create a barrier around the door until mana flows can be adjusted from above. That's how it worked last time, right?"

"Yeah…" Ratatosk seemed hesitant to agree to Mithos' plan, if only for the fact that it was _Mithos_ suggesting it. "…But the Mana Spirit has to agree to transfer some of the mana to the door…"

"That is very doable," stated Kratos simply, "I see no reason why Mithos' plan should not work."

Though Ratatosk eyed him, too, with mistrust, Kratos could see that he was caving toward the plan. Perhaps it was simply because he had no other options…

"Emi-erm…Ratatosk, sorry," Marta stumbled over her words, "w-where's Emil…exactly…?"

Ratatosk looked at Marta, his red eyes almost…soft, "He's here, he—I guess _I_—say "hi."

"O-okay…"

Ratatosk watched the girl a moment longer, he seemed to be resisting the urge to approach her, hold her. "We…" he said as if attempting to snap himself back to the present, "will not be able to make the immediate switch of the mana flow, what do you propose to block the door in its stead besides the Eternal Sword? Unfortunately, that on its own is not enough to keep the demons out."

"If…I may…" murmured Richter, standing shakily, using his sword as support. "It is my fault that the door was weakened; allow me to act as a guard, with your permission of course…"

Lloyd stepped forward, "I think it sounds like a plan." His voice was filled with a false cheeriness; he seemed to have realized what everyone else had realized: Ratatosk, and therefore Emil, would be remaining in the Ginnungagap. Marta, who was standing not far from Kratos and Lloyd, had also put the answer together and was obviously suppressing tears. "But…the others should…leave, if we're going to start. I do want Mithos to stay though, it's his idea, he'll be a big help."

Kratos was about to protest that _he_ should stay as well when Lloyd met his eye and quickly glanced down at Marta and then back at him meaningfully. When Kratos followed his gaze, he realized what Lloyd was thinking, Marta looked ready to fall apart: already half in tears as her eyes followed Emil's—Ratatosk's—every move. She would need help to get through this.

"Then I suppose this is goodbye…" whispered Colette, there was a hinting of tears in her voice as well. "Bye bye, thank you _so_ much for protecting our world, we'll never forget you…"

"I suppose it is…for now." The boy that they had all seen mature looked out over them, his eyes not the green that they had first met him with, but a powerful red. How that color had changed everything was astounding.

"Well, Tosky, I guess we're out for now. Take care of yourself, you're not so bad." With no more than those words and a backward wave, Zelos turned and wandered his way out.

"Gods, he's so caring…" grumbled Sheena, "Hey, well… thanks for-for everything, kay? Keep yourself safe…" Sheena could not bring herself to really say goodbye, and she turned and followed after Zelos, grabbing Colette's hand and pulling her along as well.

"Hey, see ya, okay? Don't forget about us!" Genis smiled.

"Yes, I only wish we could have spent more time together…"Raine smiled as well, but her blue eyes held tears. "Goodbye." The Sages turned and followed their friends away.

"Good luck to you, be you Emil or Ratatosk or both," Regal nodded at Emil once, his face holding both smiles and tears and turned to trail behind Raine and Genis.

"…Be careful, won't you? I do not want to lose another friend…" Presea smiled in her bright but blank way, and ran to catch up with Genis, their hands linking.

With her leaving, only Lloyd, Kratos, Mithos, Marta, Richter, and Ratatosk remained in front of the Ginnungagap. There were no tears in Marta's eyes any longer, and she turned her face up to meet his. "Emil…thank you. Thank you for everything you've done for me. You were always there for me and I wouldn't have made it without your strength. I-I…Emil, I love you. I'm not going to say goodbye, because I _will_ see you again." She moved forward and, pushing herself up on to her toes, she kissed Emil.

Ratatosk's eyes were wide for a moment, and it was only when he began to kiss back, Kratos, Lloyd, Richter, and Mithos all averting their eyes, that Marta pulled back. Without another word, she turned and raced out of the room, unable to face that last look at him.

Emil stared after her, green eyes glittering with tears. "Marta…" he whispered, "I love you too…" There was no way that she could have heard it.

"…There's still time you know…" said Lloyd softly. "Go after her."

"I…can't. It's my job to make up for everything that I did…this is not the time to be selfish…" Ratatosk's voice was yearning.

"Very well, than I suppose I should be off as well." Kratos turned without another word of goodbye. "Lloyd, Mithos, Yuan and I will be expecting you back soon."

He was about half way to the door, moving at a leisurely stride, when Ratatosk called out, "Aurion… you're not so bad…but no more parading around pretending to be me, got it?"

Kratos turned to look back at him, Emil—Ratatosk, almost dwarfed by the massive door behind him, short, even, when standing next to Lloyd, yet powerful beyond measure. "…Take care of yourself, Emil."

………………

Kratos followed the sound of the sobbing, moving toward the source. Around another bend in the path he found Marta, she was sobbing so hard that she did not hear his approach until he was upon her. "Marta…" he murmured softly.

She jumped, her eyes darting up to look at him, they were red with sorrow and she hurried to brush them from her countenance. "S-sorry, I was just…"

"It is…difficult to lose someone as important to you as he was…"

She nodded slowly, "I-I miss him already…I don't know what I'll do without him…"

"You will survive, you will recover… it will be difficult, but you will live." He hated himself for being so heartless, but it was the best, more practical advice he could give.

"How can you _say_ that?! I don't want to _live_ without him!" The tears that had subsided returned fully and, instead of burying her face in her hands as Kratos would have expected, she pulled herself against his chest, or, rather, stomach, as he was so much taller than she.

For a moment he only stood there, shock written on his face, than, almost as if invisible hands were guiding him, Kratos' arms wrapped around her and pulled her against him. "Hush…everything will be alright."

_Oh Anna, if only it were you here to comfort her…_

Everything _would_ be alright; everything would turn out, as it always did. The world was unbelievably resilient; Kratos had seen it bounce back so many times now… The world, and all of its inhabitance, would begin again and there would be a new reality.

It was unreal.

* * *

**I…guess that's it then… The Epilogue will be up sometime this weekend…**

**R&R**

**Yours truly,**

**~Yoshi**


	60. Epilogue

The sun shone down on the clear, blue water that surrounded Palmacosta. Clouds gently drifted around the sky, casting wispy shadows on the water and over the cobblestone streets. Marta leaned over the railing separating her from the drop to the water below. It was a short fall; the path itself was built only a foot above the waves, if the waves lapped high enough, they could have covered the pathway. Today, however, the weather was perfect, the water like glass.

"I'm going to make the difference, Emil…" whispered Marta to the air as if her lost love would hear, "You forfeit your life for the world, so I'm going to make sure that it deserves your sacrifice. I'll find a way for Tethe'alla and Sylvarant to live in peace in this world, a _different_ way than Daddy did. I think that would be fitting…"

The wind was the only recipient as it stole her words and carried them out to sea…or perhaps it was taking them to Emil himself. She hated the thought of him remaining in the Ginnungagap forever. Once Mithos and Lloyd finished helping him seal it, he was locking the door so that no one ever interfered with it again.

She could not blame him for that; the demons possessed the mind, twist it so that the victim could hear the screams of their loved ones. For Marta, it had been her mother, screaming for Marta to release her. She might have succumbed had the others not been there to explain what she was hearing.

So lost in thoughts was Marta, that she did not hear the soft footsteps until they were right behind her. For a long moment, she debated ignoring them in favor of simply continuing to stare out into the ocean, but, after a moment, she turned.

Her blue eyes flooded with tears and she gasped, the boy that faced her was short, only a few inches taller than her own head. He stood looking awkward and cute; one had rubbing the back of his neck while the other rested by his side; his bulky clothing did not serve to disguise the fact that he was more lanky bone than muscle. His hair was stuck up at odd angles as if he had slept on it oddly, one piece in particular that stood on end on the top of his head just _begged_ to be trimmed.

It was not, though, any of these features that Marta took in, no, it was the bright green eyes, both trained on her, that she stared at.

"I-impossible…" she whispered through her tears, tears that she did not realize she shed. "Emil!"

Marta was in his arms; Emil's closing around her back, before either of them had realized she had moved. "Emil, oh _Emil! _How…" she asked softly, "how are you here…?"

He chuckled softly, "Ratatosk figured that between he and Richter they could handle it down there for a few years while I finish my life…" He smiled brightly. "I missed you…"

"Oh Emil…"

………………

It was too quiet. The world was in perfect order; the sun shone, the clear water that flowed around the Tree glistened in the heat. Sophie, Tut, Nero, and Eon were all playing in the crystal water and Yuan and Martel were walking while Mithos was away, once again checking on the now-sealed Ginnungagap, as was his new duty. Kratos was horrified to find that Lloyd's quick ability to find himself bored did not, in fact, come from his mother.

The world was _too_ quiet, and life _too_ relaxed for a man who had lived his whole existence by the sword. With no one to return to, he found himself, more or less, camping with Mithos and Yuan. It was not as if the arrangements were uncomfortable, they had lived in closer quarters, but life was too…peaceful.

Lloyd was gone again, off to finish his exsphere hunt. Kratos had been hoping, had almost _expected,_ to be invited along, but Lloyd had said nothing, simply waved goodbye as he left them to the Tree. To say that he felt abandoned would be an understatement.

Still, he could only sit and watch the monsters frolic and talk to Yuan and Martel and wait to be needed again. He would have liked to visit Anna, but when he had tried to do so, Dirk had not left him alone for a moment, and he had gracefully retreated with the dwarf glaring on.

Kratos was instantaneously snapped from his rather depressing train of thought when he was tackled from behind. The blurred red and familiar embrace informed him of the culprit almost at once, but his hand had still jumped to his sword before he could force himself to relax.

"Lloyd," he grunted, still pinned under Lloyd's weight, "may I ask what you think you are doing…?"

"Hugging…" Lloyd gave his midriff a tight squeeze before crawling off of his father and beaming at the older man. "I've got a surprise for you…" from the excited light in his son's eyes, Kratos almost _knew _he would regret asking, but Lloyd's enthusiasm was rubbing off.

"Dare I ask?"

"Guess what it is!"

Kratos rolled his eyes, "I have not the faintest idea, do inform me."

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at his father, "Come on…you're no fun. I'll give you a hint…it floats!"

At his words, Kratos raised an eyebrow, "It floats…" Suddenly, a conversation they had had years ago, back in Sylvarant, before the Tower of Salvation and its damning affects, resurfaced. Kratos could remember the child that Lloyd had been, his red-brown eyes sparkling as he thought of his next adventure, one that would take him around the world exploring, and him asking he, Kratos, to come. He had always wanted a boat…and now Kratos feared he had one.

Lloyd's eyes were bright once again and he knew that his father had put his hint to the real thing. "Can you believe it?! I bought it from a man in Palmacosta; it's still there now, 'cept I've got a little problem… I've got no idea how to drive a boat…"

"You do not _drive_ a boat, Lloyd, you _sail_ a boat, and what do you mean you bought a boat?!" Kratos eyed his son, wondering if this was another of his odd dreams bearing fruit. "What do you plan on doing with a boat?"

"Well," Lloyd here grew sheepish, "once you said that, after the Journey was over, you would think about sailing around the world with me…but when the Journey was over, you left." Lloyd looked up at him hopefully, "will you come with me now?"

It was a moment before Kratos realized that he was nodding. Nodding without even realizing he was doing so, in fact, it was only Lloyd's wide smile that made him realize that he had just agreed.

"Great! We set sail tomorrow!" Lloyd stood, and Kratos followed suit, still mildly surprised that he had agreed to do this. "Hey, Dad? Thanks. I really can't wait." Lloyd stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Kratos, hugging him. Kratos hugged back.

This had to be the worst idea he had ever agreed to.


End file.
